


Doing What I Can to Get Home (to you)

by AKA_Green



Series: Team America [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (careful if squeamish!), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Awesome Peggy Carter, Bisexual Bucky Barnes, Bisexual Peggy Carter, Blood and Injury, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Established Relationship, Major Character Injury, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, OT3, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Super Soldiers VS the 21st Century, pansexual Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-14 08:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 40,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7161800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKA_Green/pseuds/AKA_Green
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky jolted awake so fast he thought he had slammed into something. Confused and hazy, his first thought was, ‘Did Peggy kick me off the bed again?’ </p><p>Or: Where super soldiers Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter follow their stupid boyfriend into the 21st Century and kick some ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> (Many thanks to my brilliant editor NarutoRox! ur amazing! I give this brilliant being of light and magic 11, no 12 percent of the credit for helping me so damn much. Seriously, perfection as a human being. This would be a mixed Hodge-podge of mixed tenses and grammar errors without this eternal savior of awesome)
> 
> (this is the longest thing i've ever written and the only thing I worked really hard on so please be nice!)
> 
> (TRIGGER WARNING: for fertility issues in ch:16)

Bucky jolted awake so fast he thought he had slammed into something. Confused and hazy, his first thought was, ‘ _Did Peggy kick me off the bed again?’_ His eyes snapped open and external feedback came suddenly as his side flared up in burning pain. He moaned as the hot and cold flash from his arm made his vision grey out.

Groaning, he sat up… only to hiss and flop back in cold, _cold,_ snow when his dizzy head told him that the ground was a _much_ better place to be. He was exhausted, and waking up from his little snow nap told him he had no right to be.

He blinked up at the white-grey sky and took another deep breath as cold seeped into his bones and chest, making him whimper. A shiver of heat and clawing pain jolted through him at that little action. His breath fogged in front of him like small clouds as he panted through the radioactive agony that came from his left side.

Bucky looked over at the red lump of flesh and splintered bone that was left of his arm and gagged, turning the other way and closing his eyes. He needed to stop the bleeding immediately or he’d die right there. ‘ _Okay_ ’, he steeled himself, ‘ _Okay_ ’.

Trembling, he searched his pockets with his remaining ( _oh, God_ ) hand and found a roll of gauze bandages. Trying not to look at shredded red gore, he wrapped the gauze above the torn skin tightly. Patting the area around him, he grabbed a damp, but sturdy, stick off the ground and put it on his arm, carefully balancing as he wrapped the gauze around a few more times. Quickly, he turned the stick and made it a tourniquet.

While he worked on stopping the bleeding, he vaguely remembered that he might need a second one to really keep the blood flow down. Now, with the tourniquet thoroughly tightened and the bleeding slowing significantly, he tucked the stick into the gauze. It pinched tightly and made the pain flare up even more, but he pushed through.

Thinking again, he wrapped the remaining gauze around the mangled flesh tightly, glad shock was dulling the agonizing pain. What he just felt was exposed nerve endings to the elements, not even scratching the surface of the main event.

Once he was finished, Bucky once again slumped back into the wet snow. He sighed when he realized he needed to move or he’d freeze to death before he could bleed out. He just wanted to sleep, but he couldn't. He had to get back to Steve and Peggy.

Bucky groaned and sat up slowly, not wanting to get light-headed again or, heaven forbid, pass out again. The snow around him was stained with red marks from his cuts, but one red puddle had melted and dyed the snow a deep, dark maroon. Inside his fuzzy brain, he thought it kinda looked like a brightly colored dinner plate.

Bucky shook his head to clear it and get some of the snow out of his tangled hair. This proved to be a bad idea, because the motion made his missing limb throb and his head hurt. Maybe he had hit it on the way down.

 _Down_ , he paused, _down_ . Bucky looked up, swallowing thickly as he saw the top of the cliff, the train long gone. ‘ _Steve and Pegs probably think I’m dead_ ’, Bucky realized. He took a long, slow breath and peered through the trees at the edge of his vision. Distantly, he heard angry voices, speaking in German to each other.

‘ _Shit_ ’, Bucky thought. ‘ _Shit, goddamn motherfuckers from hell._ ’ He stood, swaying only slightly, and looked for a weapon. He had lost his gun when he was blasted out of the train, leaving him defenceless.

Then he saw his arm.

_‘Oh, God, really?’_

Bucky grimaced. He _could_ probably hit one of the Nazi’s over the head with a frozen limb. His stomach rolled aggressively at the thought and he gagged. Bucky took a deep breath and glanced around. Twenty feet from his landing sight was a thick tree, big enough for him to hide behind.

All right, he had to get home and he was about to use his severed arm as a club. He chuckled nervously and stooped down to grab his ( _his?_ ) wrist. The skin was pale and cold and his stomach protested dangerously. The arm was stiff, almost fully frozen and turning a light shade of blue. He could see damaged and cut skin as well as some nub of bone sticking out of the end.

This was probably going to be the grossest thing he’d done during war.

Bucky staggered over to the tree, desperately hoping the Nazis wouldn’t notice his footprints in the snow. The black bark pressing against his jacket felt grounding, made him focus. Some snow shuddered out of the branches gently when a wind swept through the area. The German voices increased in volume as they got closer, and Bucky could feel a cold sweat break out at his hairline as nervous heat swept from his heart to his stomach.

Gripping his wrist tighter, he vaguely wondered what they did with severed arms at war, despite it not actually being relevant in his current situation. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted two men in HYDRA uniforms walk past him, heading straight for the bloody snow. They both had handguns out and at the ready. Before they could get too far, Bucky swung his frozen arm at the first's head, which was covered only by a thin hat, hard enough to knock out or kill.

Luckily for Bucky, that man dropped like a stone. The second spun around, gun pointing right at Bucky, and fired once. The bullet barely grazed Bucky’s cheek, sending a spark of pain through him. He swung his arm again, this time hitting the guy's neck and shoulder, hard.

The HYDRA agent, dazed and obviously surprised at being hit with _an arm_ , doesn’t try to shoot again. This little show of shock gives Bucky the upper hand. Releasing the arm, Bucky stooped low and grabbed the first guy’s gun. He quickly flipped off the safety, unloading the entire clip on the second man.

The HYDRA agent jerked with each impact and fell backwards after the sixth, dead before he hit the ground.

Silence fell through the snowy forest again. They were definitely both no longer a threat. The first guy’s head looked a little caved in, and the second had taken six or seven bullets. Bucky paused, looking down at the bodies.

_‘Well, where had they come from? Did they use a car?’_

Bucky got down on his knees and single handedly searched both men’s pockets. He found some money, another round of ammo, and a _pair of keys_.

“Thank the baby Jesus,” Bucky kissed the cold metal. Now all he had to do was follow the men’s footprints back to their car and get out of the Alps. He gathered his arm and the guns, then stole the bullet ridden man’s hat because his ears were freezing the fuck off.

Doing things with one hand was tricky, he learned, but he managed to put the cap on completely after a few tugs and pulls in different directions. He trekked through the snow for a good thirty minutes, watching the ground as he stepped on boot prints.

After a while, following the tracks became a mindless project. He was so focused on his current task that he bumped right into the car. A Volkswagen Kübelwagen, the cover up and the engine still warm, even in this frigid weather.

Saying a quick prayer of thanks, Bucky tore the door open and slid in, closing the door after him as fast as possible, not wanting to let more cold air in. His trembling hands made starting the car a little difficult, but he managed to get the keys in and get the heater turned on. He couldn’t feel his face, for Christs sake.

He put the weapons and his frozen arm on the passenger seat and tried to figure out exactly how he was going to drive the car with only one hand.

The rumble of the engine reminded him a little of Steve's heartbeat. Strong and powerful, matching the hammering beat of Peggy’s. Bucky sighed, hoping Steve wasn’t blaming himself, and _really_ hoping Peggy wasn’t going to outright _murder_ someone out of grief.

He finally started backing the car up, though it took a little longer than it would have if he had both hands. He scraped the bumper against a tree. Swearing, he corrected his mistake and zoomed down the road the car came from.

It was a long road, with slow, winding pathways and hours of boring snow and ice and trees to pass. He couldn’t turn on the radio without risking his life, and even if he could it would probably be in German, but he still wished he could listen to something other than cold silence.

He mindlessly followed the trail until he hit muddy and slushy roads.

Bucky stopped the car suddenly, seeing, in full glory, a base surrounded by dozens of HYDRA soldiers and cars loaded with weapons. ‘ _Okay, I definitely don’t want to be there’_. He spun the car around with minimal difficulty and followed a different road for another hour.

He hummed ‘ _Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy_ ’ as he followed the roads, watching evergreen trees and bushes pass almost absently. Bucky only had a vague idea of where he was, but as soon as he found a town he could buy a map and get back to base easily.

He was still exhausted, and the aching in his muscles became more and more obvious the longer he sat. He really wanted to take a nap, but he desperately needed a doctor to look at him before he did. He didn’t want to fall asleep and just never wake up again.

He had places to be, people to see, and also had to stop Steve from doing something _spectacularly_ stupid.

At some point during his drive, time started blurring together, but when he blinked back to the present he found himself in a small Italian town. He pulled up to the curb and got the attention of a middle-aged woman. She blinked at him in surprise. He wasn’t bothered, if a man with one arm had come up to him, he would have looked at the guy strangely, too.

“You gotta map?” He asked.

“ _Scusami_?”

Italian, right. “Oh, um. _Avete una mappa_ ?” Bucky tried. ‘ _Was that right?’_

She shook her head, but pointed to a small gas station at the end of the road. “ _Grazie_ ,” he said.

Bucky drove down the road and parked, exiting his stolen car and picking a map off the shelf on the side of the pump. Opening it with difficulty, he frowned down at the crisscrossing lines of roads.

He found where he was and where the base’s location was in comparison. He knew that particular base was just outside the ruins of some small town, and he could see the name of the town on the map. Doing a quick set of calculations, he figured out that he was approximately three hours away. Bucky sighed. ‘ _A few more hours of driving it is then’_.

After buying some food and thick coffee from the extremely nervous-looking owner of the station, he set out again.

He whistled show tunes and dodged other wild cars on his way, bored and exhausted out of his mind. Some time into the drive, his arm started dripping again, the blood having soaked through the thick bandages. He sighed and stepped on the gas. He would get there quicker if he didn’t follow any speed limits.

Bucky got there in two and a half hours, relaxing mentally and physically when he pulled up front. Almost immediately his car was surrounded by SSR agents, who ordered him to identify himself. He showed them his empty hand and opened the door slowly.

Once the door was open, he leaned back inside the carriage to grab his arm, now decidedly less frozen.

When they saw his familiar face and the fact that he was obviously injured, they moved to assist him. However, Bucky decided that if he gotten this far, he could walk to medical by his own damn self.

“Christ, let me through,” he growled to the soldier attempting to assist him.

“We’re taking you to medical, Sergeant Barnes.”

“Does it look like I give a shit?” Bucky asked the hesitating soldier, “I can fucking walk myself, so fuck off!”

The soldier duefully let go of his shoulder, and let Bucky storm to the medical tents. The mud squished under his feet as he marched into the room. The medical team gaped at him as he dropped the arm on a gurney and sat beside it, but they quickly moved into action when he gave them an irritated look.

They had to put him under to fix the damaged arm, and he couldn’t have been more thankful for the relief from the pain and exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

Bucky woke up shortly after they finished, startling the nurse.

He groggily sat up and lifted his stump for a good look. It was freshly bandaged and shorter than the first wound, showing exactly what the doctors had had to do in order to correct the torn flesh and splintered bone.

_(It feels like the arm is still there…)_

He wasn’t surprised, but still felt a rush of disappointment and resentment. When he swung his legs over the side of the gurney, the nurse put a hand on his chest.

“Sergent, please-” the nurse tried.

“‘M fine. Let me up. Gotta find Pegs and Steve.”

She looked unsure, and tried to get him to lay down again, but he pushed her away and stood on wobbly legs. He managed to get a shirt and a pair of pants on, too, but the nurse had to do the button for him, and he felt annoyance at the inability to do so himself.

Moderately upset and still fuzzy-headed, he made his way to his tent.

He opened the side up to see if anyone was in there. Finding it empty, he tried to figure out where he would go if he thought Steve had died.

Drinking, of course, drowning out his sorrows with a bottle of Jack. Unfortunately, there was no bar in the base, but he did know of a little bombed out one just inside the wrecked town.

He swore to God, he just wanted to drag those assholes to bed and go the fuck to sleep. He was so fucking _tired_ and _cold_.

Now even more grumpy, tired, pained, and irritated, he abandoned the tent and walked past a bunch of surprised agents and soldiers.

“Fuckin’ angsty assholes being’ pricks and drinking away responsibilities. Steve can’t even get drunk, dammit. What the hell...” Bucky grumbled, picking his way through rubble and chunks of building. He almost fell over three times because he was still a bit drugged, but he powered on.

When he heard voices, he jogged slightly, feeling an aching familiarity and longing pulling at him. He fucking missed them and he didn’t even have a reason to. They did, if they really thought he was dead.

“It wasn't your fault,” Peggy said, her voice rough and scratchy.

“Did you make the report?” Steve demanded.

“Yes,” she admitted. Bucky finally reached the entrance of the demolished building, peeking inside, because where on Earth was this conversation going?

“Well, then you know that's not true.” Steve had his hand on an empty bottle, glaring at it like it had personally offended him.

Peggy tried to brush a strand of imaginary hair behind her ear, but paused when she remembered that her hair was military length, short enough that hair wasn’t a problem. She had cut it the minute the Howling Commandos were formed, citing that it was military length and that meant she could go out with them and ‘kick ass.’

Bucky thought that she meant ‘make sure that Steve and Bucky don’t get their asses kicked,’ but he wasn’t certain. She must have decided to put that beta version of the serum running through her veins to some use, because there was no way she’d run into a battle zone just for a couple of guys.

“You did everything you could. Did you believe in James? Did you respect him? Then we have to keep going. For him. He made the choice to follow you out into war, he damn well must have thought you were worth it.”

Those sad sacks.

“Did it for both you assholes,” Bucky said, stepping over the cracked wall.

Steve and Peggy gasped as one and shot over to him in less than a second, crowding around him like a barrier of superhumans. They both had wet eyes that had been rubbed raw from wiping away tears.

Bucky blinked up at Steve. Steve was quick to cup his hand around Bucky’s neck, clearly seeing if he was real. He brushed a thumb over Bucky’s jaw line. The warmth seeped through and Bucky sighed contently.

“You're alive,” Steve said tearfully, “Oh, thank God, you’re alive.” He pressed kiss after kiss to Bucky’s forehead before wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close to his chest.

Bucky hissed in pain as the embrace put pressure on his stump and other various cuts and bruises. Steve was quick to release him, sputtering an apology before freezing and staring at his empty sleeve.

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Buck-” Steve gasped.

“Just lost an arm,” Bucky dismissed. “‘S why I got two of ‘em.”

Steve still looked devastated, and Bucky couldn’t help but feel a little bad while looking up into sad blue eyes. Bucky felt Peggy’s hands on his shoulders, and then he was whirled around so she could get a good look at him. She pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and hugged him close.

He ended up being squished between her and Steve, and he would have protested, but their body heat chased away the residual cold from his bones. He sighed in relief.

“Can we just- can we just go to bed? Please?” He asked helplessly into Peggy’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Bucky. Yeah, of course. Let’s go to the tent, okay?” Steve said softly.

He nodded against Peggy’s neck, the exhaustion he’d been keeping back sweeping over him. His bones ached and his muscles burned, and his eyes felt as though they held the weight of the world.

* * *

 Bucky woke up sometime in the middle of the night pressed tightly between two masses of fucking lava.

He blinked that comparison away and found his head tucked under Steve’s chin and the little spoon to Peggy, one arm around his waist and the other under his neck, with Steve's head on her hand. That was going to feel dead to the world tomorrow, he just knew it. Peggy’s boobs were flat against his back, their legs all in a tangle, and his arm was wedged between himself and Steve’s chest. He could just barely move his fingers because of how tightly stuck he was between the super soldiers, but instead of trapped, he felt connected, like he was exactly where he belonged.

He still felt like he was overheating and melting at the same time, but it was better than feeling cold.


	3. Chapter 3

“No, Buck. You can get a medical discharge, you can go home,” Steve pleaded.

“Fuck that. If I know anything, you’re gonna get in trouble and need me to get your ass outta that mess. Pegs doesn’t fully know what a pain in the ass you are or what shit you're capable of getting stuck in!” Bucky pointed threateningly before going back to trying to button his pants. Though he’d gotten better, he still needed a minute to figure out the logistics.

Steve looked crestfallen, but Peggy just patted his shoulder and shrugged when Steve looked at her.

Bucky continued, “Plus, apparently I’m half a super-soldier from whatever shit Zola did to me because people don’t just _survive three hundred foot plus falls_. I can do goddamn anything.”

Steve looked ready to argue again, but Bucky cut him off. “Look, sweetheart. I can still shoot, I can cover your six because you never fucking look _behind your sorry ass_ , and I can still do my fucking job!”

Peggy nodded. “That’s true, dear. You really need to have someone watch your back. I can’t be expected to keep an eye on you all the time, darling. I have things to do.”

“And I have a bone to pick with Schmitt, just like you two.” Bucky pointed to his missing arm, “Everything from my humerus down.” He grinned, amused by his own joke.

Peggy snorted while Steve looked vaguely horrified. Bucky thought it might be best not to tell Steve that he had killed a guy with his frozen arm.

Peggy would probably appreciate it though. He’d save it for a rainy day.

* * *

 Bucky glanced up through the gear of the airplane and thought, _‘This is the stupidest fucking decision I’ve ever made_ ’. He was barely clinging to the landing gear of the Valkyrie, with Phillips and Peggy in the car just behind him.

“Give me a hand up!’ Peggy demanded, thrusting her own out to him.

“I only got one and I’m using it!” He quipped back.

“Yes, well, one of us has to hold Schmitt while the other punches. You’ll need me!” She shouted over the roar of wind and the powerful engines.

Bucky paused and wrapped his legs around the gear, carefully reaching out while tensing every single muscle in his body. She took his hand and hauled herself up, quickly finding her own grip on the mechanics of the landing gear just as Phillips had to slam on the breaks. The base vanished in minutes, Phillips just a speck of green in his eye.

“Get up there, doll,” he said distantly, cold wind biting at his face. “Let's go get our boy.”

“After you, soldier,” she insisted.

He grinned and started pulling himself up.

* * *

 “Well, this is fucking stupid,” Bucky commented as he shot another HYDRA goon, Peggy taking down two herself.

“It’s a hell of a lot of explosives, if that’s what you mean,” she replied easily as she stabbed one of the men in the neck with his own knife.

“Nah, I’m talking about these guys thinking they can stop us at all,” he explained, twisting to shoot the man sneaking up on his best girl. The man shouted in pain as the bullet lodged itself in his shoulder. Peggy laughed at Bucky's comment and slammed the HYDRA agents’ head into the metal barriers between the walkway and the nukes.

Man, he loved her. She was all feminine grace and raw brutality. The power in just her legs alone could crack a guy’s head. He smiled warmly, unable to stop it. He glanced around and felt it drop off his face.

“Really hope this is easier than I think it’s gonna be,” he admitted, tucking the gun into his armpit to reload it as she checked the area ahead of him.

“Seconded.”

* * *

 Bucky barely managed to dodge the blast from the strange blue gun. “Oh, shit.” He rolled towards a more sheltered area of the ship, avoiding the death-ray and letting Peggy handle it. He peeked over the side of the support beam.

“Get down, soldier!” Peggy hissed, grabbing his gun and firing at Schmitt as Steve continued to fight him with only his damn shield.

He dutifully hid behind the pillars, waiting for an opening. He grabbed his second gun and managed to get a few shots in, but the Red Skull was too fast and dodged. He abandoned the fruitless task and started keeping the other HYDRA personnel off . They didn’t need to be interrupted at this point. Too much was at stake.

He had to watch from his spot as Steve fought the battle, which only ended when Red Skull grabbed the cube and was sucked into a vortex displaying the inky depths of space. He stared as it melted through solid metal like it was burning paper and drops into the ocean.

“Bugger all this shit,” Peggy said. Bucky blinked at her. Peggy almost never swore. “That was powering the ship. It might have enough power to reach its destination, but we might also drop out of the sky soon enough.”

Steve rushed to the controls to try to figure out how to land it safely. Bucky and Peggy followed him over. It was on auto pilot, which meant changing any settings would only drain power.

True to Peggy’s word, it was either New York, or them.

“The remaining power has rerouted to sustaining automatic pilot. We are en-route to New York, but those bombs-” Steve grimaced. “We go there, everybody is done for. Nevermind just endangering human life by crashing.”

“We have to force it down,” Bucky grimaced. “And there are no parachutes. I checked on the way in. Schmitt wasn’t expecting to abandon ship.”

A windy silence echoed around the room. Steve flipped a few levers and grabbed the steering column.

“I love you both. Hope you know that.” He pushed down and Bucky felt lightheaded watching the swirling snow part to reveal ice plains.

“Same here, sweetheart. I guess I really am with you ‘till the end of the line.”

Bucky put his hand on Steve's shoulder as Peggy tried to work the radio.

“If I radio base, I can get less than a minute of report in with what power is left,” she said, frowning. “And never mind finding out what our coordinates are, that’s been shot.”

“That’s on me,” Bucky said sheepishly.

Not dignifying that admittance with a real answer, she punched in a radio signal.

“Rogers?” Howard's voice crackled over the connection.

“Don’t talk, Schmitt's dead and the Valkyrie is crashing somewhere in the arctic. We can’t give coordinates and this signal is going to drop soon.” Peggy scowls at the machine. “Dammit. We’re already off.”

They all looked back at the rapidly expanding plain of ice and snow. Bucky figured he could either crack a joke or say he loves those two assholes.

“We survive this, we’re all getting fucking married. Don’t give a shit about what anyone else says,” he proclaimed, going for both.

Peggy grabbed his hand and pulled him into the seat with Steve. The super-soldier put his shield in front of them.

“Better believe it,” Steve said firmly, a bit of desperation and longing caught in his throat. “We’ll need six rings.”

“Three is easier to maintain-” Peggy started

 _(Noise, confusion, pain, fear,_ **_cold_ ** _,_ **_icy, chilling_ ** _, blackness.)_

* * *

 Bucky isn’t immediately knocked unconscious when they’re thrown forward at the impact. Or, more accurately, he is, but he comes back to himself so cold, he can’t even feel his limbs anymore, and he’s too tired to even shiver.

Through the blue silky light, he can see Peggy and Steve, still unconscious, slumped on the floor only a few feet away with the shield just beyond them. Everything is cold and a little damp and Bucky can see cracks in the webbed window where water is leaking from.

He is going to die here. With Peggy and Steve.

He feels numb. There’s frost on his eyelashes. His uniform is stiff, so are his joints.

Bucky slowly moves, standing on shaky legs. He drags Peggy and Steve unconscious forms over to where he woke up slumped against the wall, then goes back to grab the shield. His fingers barely respond to the commands he’s giving them, but eventually, he’s back where me began.

Putting Steve’s head on Bucky’s lap and letting Peggy slump against his side, he grabs the shield, pulling the leather straps taunt and using the large disk to cover Steve’s torso, like some bastardized version of a blanket.

He didn’t want to die.

But he was okay with this.

“I love you,” he says to them.

Peggy’s shallow breaking gets even softer, then stops suddenly against his neck. Steve’s chest ceases rising and falling moments later.

Bucky closes his eyes. ‘ _Til the end of the line_. They made it, now he just has to get off the train with Peggy and Steve.


	4. The 21st Century

Bucky jolts awake, a singular thought knocking against his mind, _‘Did Peggy kick me off the bed again?’_

He blinks up at the blank ceiling, feeling chilly and generally like a frowny human being. “Dammit, not again.” He sits up, using his one arm to brace himself and look around. ‘ _Where are Peggy and Steve? They were in my arms, and now they’re not.’_

He realizes pretty quickly he isn’t where he thinks he is. His clothes are all wrong, too clean and soft, the room looks off and the city isn’t actually grey, no matter what people say. It smells wrong, too. Dust alone reaches his nose. No smell of antiseptic, of sick, of _anything_.

Narrowing his eyes, his gaze sweeps over the (fake, fake, _fake, not good_ ) hospital room.

“God dammit,” he growls, jumping off the bed.

Bucky glances around the room again, worried and wondering where the hell Peggy and Steve are. If he had survived the crash, they had to as well. He deliberately does not think about the way their breathing had stopped.

“Peggy? Steve?” Bucky calls out carefully.

* * *

 In a lone observation room, with Coulson hovering over him excitedly, Fury narrows his good eye.

 _“Peggy? Steve?”_ From one monitor.

 _“Pegs? Buck?”_ From another.

 _“Steve? James?”_ From the last.

Fury feels anxiety build up in him. This is not going how they planned. Barnes says something dark and vaguely threatening to himself and looks around. Fury frowns and watches as the three soldiers approach the door and test the knob in near unison.

What kind of freaky mind-meld shit was this?

* * *

 “I swear to God, if they’re dead, I’m gonna shoot myself in the fucking face and beat ‘em back to life so I can kill ‘em myself,” Bucky grumbles. He glares at the room before calming down enough to come up with a plan.

This room is clearly fake. His captors, as he will refer to them until otherwise named, have him in what appears to be a hospital room. He pauses and listens to the radio, realizing that they’re playing the game from ‘41.

Amateurs.

He walks over and checks the door. Locked.

“Well fuck you too, buddy!” he says to the door knob. He does what any self respecting super-soldier would do and pulls the door off its hinges. It splinters and cracks sharply.

Bucky dumps it back into the false room, not giving two shits about damaging anything.

He finds himself in a bigger room, one made of concrete and metal. It’s huge, like a airplane hanger.

Scowling, he looks around and spots a door, an exit. He storms over just in time for a couple men in heavily protected armor to burst in and point their weapons at him. They shout something, but Bucky doesn’t listen, too focused on wondering where his lovers are and feeling generally threatened.

He grabs the nearest man and tosses him into the other two. The three burst out into a long hallway and skid across the floor, startling a few people in sharp suits.

“Peggy?! Steve?!” he calls down the halls, ignoring the odd looks he’s getting. They aren’t threatening him yet.

_“James?!”_

It’s quiet, barely audible. The fighting coming from the same direction is something completely different. It’s loud, with muffled yelps and the sounds of something being broken. Bones, maybe, or furniture.

Bucky perks up like a kid that’s heard an ice cream truck. _‘Thank God, Peggy’s alive.’_ Bucky takes a mad dash toward the sounds of fighting, pushing down the people trying to stop him single handedly.

He’s getting closer to the action when… “ **All agents, code thirteen! Repeat, all agents, code thirteen!** ”

Then the people _really_ start coming. They send more soldiers in uniforms with what appears to be tranqs. Bucky scowls and starts swinging, using their numbers against them as he dodges and weaves, putting a few pushes and punches into it. Strong legs snap out to sweep people off their feet.

“James?!”

“Peggy!” He replies, noting with excitement that she sounds closer and whoever she’s fighting is getting louder.

He pushes out of the crowd and runs again. This time he just jumps over the obstacles or puts them down so they’re too late to catch him when they get back up.

When he finally sees Peggy, she looks like a fierce warrior goddess. She, too, is dressed in clothes that are all wrong, and is currently using a man's momentum to throw him into his allies.

“Hey there, doll!” he says cheekily. She turns to him and smiles widely in the midst of the chaos. She sends a group of four down with a few easy hits.

“You mind giving me a hand, darling? We still have Steve to find.” She bats her eyelashes at him as she elbows a man in the face. How she manages to be a skilled combatant and flirt expertly at the same time is beyond Bucky, but he and Steve snark at each other all the time. Can’t be much different.

“Don’t mind if I do.” He grabs the closest and, in the same motion that stopped his first attackers, throws him into another group.

Peggy punches the one closest to her three times in quick succession before dropping him and stepping out of the group of groaning people.

Bucky leans down and grabs a semi-conscious man. “I can’t punch you in the face like this, but if you don’t answer my question, you’d’ve wished I could. Now, _where is Steve?_!” Bucky growls. The man points shakily before his eyes flutter shut. He goes limp and Bucky nods in approval, dropping the guy back on the ground.

He turns to Peggy and offers his arm, giving a cheesy grin.

She laughs and takes it. “You’ll need to show me around,” she says sarcastically. “A lady like me does not come around these parts often.”

“You got it, doll.” Bucky nods. “Haffta treat a dame like you just right. Show ya’ a grand time.” He leads her through the pile of unconscious soldiers and down the hall, whistling " _Day By Day_ " lowly.

* * *

 Unbeknownst to them, Director Fury is going fucking insane in the observation rooms. He’s swearing in seven different languages in a way that would make a sailor would ask him if he kissed his mother with that mouth.

“HE’S LEADING HER DOWN A HALL FILLED WITH THE UNCONSCIOUS BODIES OF THE MOST WELL TRAINED MEN AND WOMEN I’VE HAD THE HONOR OF HIRING LIKE THEY’RE ON A FUCKING DATE WHAT THE MOTHER _FUCK_ -”

* * *

 They manage to take a short, leisurely stroll before the sounds of fighting reaches their ears.

 _“Where are they?!”_ Steve roars. It’s distant, and punctuated by the sound of what can only be breaking furniture. Or, at least, that’s what Bucky hopes it is.

“Steve!?” He calls.

A pause. _“Bucky?”_ He sounds unsure and Bucky needs to pull that asshole into a hug right fucking now.

“Steve!” Bucky exclaims, unbelievably joyful with a warm happy feeling squeezing his chest. “Come on, Pegs! We got ourselves a super soldier to find.”

They sprint down the halls, a two-man army, sending those who try to stop them to their knees and giving black eyes and bruises to every person who keeps them from their lover.

From down another hall, men go flying like shrapnel from an explosion. Bucky pauses, uncertain if that’s a good or bad thing. Steve rushes behind them, glancing down the hall left and then right.

“Peggy! Bucky!” Steve exclaims happily when he spots them smiling like a fool whose shirt isn’t flecked with other people's blood.

“Steve!” Bucky and Peggy return, rushing for their boy.

They meet in the middle, both of them swept up in the arms of the super-soldier and laughing happily, tears in their eyes. _(Steve is running warm, no longer frigid to the touch. He’s alive.)_

They’re all together again, just as they should be.

“ _WHOSE BRILLIANT FUCKING IDEA WAS IT TO KEEP THEM APART?!_ ” They hear from down the hall Steve had come from. “GET EVERYBODY TO STAND DOWN OR I’M GOING TO PUT THIS GUN UP YOUR ASS FOR GROSS INCOMPETENCE.”

Bucky blinks in surprise. That sounded like someone he could be friends with.

Steve sets Peggy and Bucky down easily and glances behind his shoulder. “We need a plan,” Steve says, frowning and glancing around the hallway.

“James,” Peggy says suddenly. He looks over. “Does that look like a camera to you?” She points at the corner of the room.

It does but... “I have seen men get evaporated,” he begins. “Killed a man with _my own frozen severed arm_ , fought a genocidal maniac with a skull that was literally red, and you're asking me about a camera that’s just a little smaller than what we got?” Bucky finishes incredulously.

Peggy shrugs.

“You killed someone with your arm?” Steve says, sounding heartbroken.

Bucky ignores him and considers the small device. “I’m gonna go grab it,” he decides. “I want it for some reason.”

“Wait, Bucky no-”

* * *

 As Nick Fury walks down the hall, filled with exasperation and noting the tell-tale signs of a headache throbbing around his temples, he hears the super soldiers arguing loudly.

“-fuck, Steve! I’m a sniper! SNIPER'S PERCH ON HIGH THINGS, DAMMIT. LET GO.”

“Get down from there! Bucky what the hell-”

“James Buchanan Barnes-” Agent Carter starts.

“Hey! Hey! I only have one arm- hey! Don’t throw shit!”

They cannot be doing what he thinks they’re doing.

He turns the corner and stops, looking at the three of the finest military minds of their century as they try to convince the one _stuck in the rafters,_ sans one shoe _,_ to come down.

Captain Rogers freezes and spins slightly to face Fury, eyes wide and an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. Agent Carter just glares up into the rafters at Sergeant Barnes.

Fury sighs. Barnes is another _Barton_ just _waiting to happen_.

* * *

 Bucky looks down from his spot in the rafters at the new man.

“Well, I see you’ve gotten yourselves comfortable,” the man comments dryly. “At ease, soldiers.” Bucky frowns at him, not particularly inclined to do so. The man shows his hands, non-hostile.

Steve shifts. “At whose command?” He challenges.

“I’m Director Fury, of SHIELD. We’re what the SSR became. Look,” he sighs. “I’m sorry about that show back there, but we thought it best to break it you slowly,” Fury winces, glancing at the downed men at his feet. “Admittedly, separating you three was a bad idea and the guy who ordered that will be demoted, because, _damn_.”

“Wait, break what?” Steve demands, latching onto that part of what Fury had said.

“You’ve been asleep. For almost seventy years,” Fury says simply.

After a beat of silence - “What the bloody fuck,” Peggy mutters, turning to the wall and pressing a hand to her forehead.

“Better be some goddamn flying cars,” Bucky hears himself say.

“James, now is not the time for this,” Peggy glares. “Get your arse down here.”

“No, no, he’s got a point,” Steve says noncommittally, crossing his arms and making a half-assed gesture.

“Don’t you start this up again,” Peggy threatens, straightening. “Last time you tried this you and Howard got stuck in that stupid car and I had to rip the door off the side. Besides, you're missing the point of what he just said. _Seventy years_. Everybody we know is probably dead! The war is probably long since over!”

“Oh, right. That.” Bucky says softly, staring down at the ground. “Oh, God. The Commandos, Phillips, Howard,” he listed, horror increasing.

“Exactly. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am about to find as much alcohol as I can get my hands on and attempt to get drunk beyond imagination.”

“Oh, shit. Seventy _years,_ ” Bucky says breathily, sitting back on the metal of the beam he was straddling.

They stood down.

While the SHIELD agents swarmed over the downed soldiers and started transporting them to the medical ward, Peggy scaled the wall to sit with Bucky and Steve reluctantly followed. To their luck, there was two bottles of alcohol hidden in a nearby vent, one Jack Daniels and the other 100 proof vodka. The agent keeping an eye on them said that it must be Agent Barton’s secret stash.

Why a person would choose to keep alcohol in air vents is beyond Bucky, but he’s grateful nonetheless.

Peggy pulled the top off the vodka and chugged. To this Steve held no comment, but when Bucky reached for the other - “Bucky, leave it! That isn’t ours!”

“Uh, excuse me, did we not just wake up seventy fucking years in the future? And what about Peggy?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t approve of that, either, but I’m not about to start anything with her because I don’t want her to _push me off this beam_.”

“So just leave it alone,” Bucky says soothingly, patting Steve’s shoulder.

Steve scowls, then sighs. “Fine. But give me a drink.”

“You must be mad to think I’m sharin’.” Bucky takes one long drink, relishing the burn of alcohol down his throat. Steve grabbed for the bottle and Bucky yanked it away, out of Steve’s reach. “Hey!” Bucky exclaims.

“Give me the bottle.”

“Get your own!”

Somehow, after a good two minutes of fighting, Steve was lying across the beam and Bucky was sitting on his back, not having spilled a single drop of amber liquid. Peggy, who is leaning against the wall, crossed her legs and rests her feet on Steve’s head.

Steve sighs heavily, resigned to his fate.

After Bucky lets Steve up and does, in fact, give him a drink, an excited looking agent comes over, looks up at them, and opens his mouth.

“If you say anything about how you’re a ‘big fan,’ I’m going to throw this bottle at you.” Bucky was not in the mood for that shit _at all_.

The agent's mouth clicks closed.

“Bucky!” Steve exclaims admonishingly. He looks back down at the guy and gives a clearly fake smile, “Sorry about him. I’d be happy to sign something at a later time.”

Bucky takes a hard swig of his drink once the guy gets the message.

* * *

 (“So how are you going to get down?” Peggy asks. “I needed to use both hands.”

“Uh.” Bucky looks up at his hand, hanging to the side of the beam, and then down at Peggy. “Catch?” Bucky asks, dangling uselessly.

Peggy sighs and grudgingly puts her arms out.)

* * *

 They are given a simple living space with three bedrooms, a good-sized living room, a large bathroom, and a kitchen. As soon as they are alone, Bucky speaks up.

“Which room should we use?”

“Well, the first is biggest-” Peggy says slowly.

“But?”

“The bed is much too small. And if we take another bed, there's still the matter of the frame and height differences.”

“Oh, well that’s an easy fix. We can just steal the beds from the other rooms and put them in the living room,” Bucky reasons.

“And what of the cameras that they put everywhere?” Peggy’s eyebrow rises in exasperation.

“Fuck ‘em. They see what they wanna see,” Bucky snorts. Then he pauses. “You think the 21st century knows about, you know, _us_?”

Steve sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, we’re going to eat just about everything in the fridge, take a bed from one of the rooms, and take at least a twelve hour nap. No thinking about anything. Any arguments?”

“Nope. Is this food going to be hot?”

“I can cook,” Steve promises.

_(Five minutes later:_

“Oh thank God, mac and cheese.”

“Yeah, something you can actually make! Hey, stop throwing noodles at me!”)

* * *

 Sated from eating basically everything, the trio steal the beds, ditch the coffee table, push the beds together, fill  the beds with blankets and pillows, and just collapse into the mass. Steve pulls Bucky to his chest and Peggy wedges herself under their legs, something she only does when she needs both contact and space.

Bucky sighs, wiggles his toes, stretches his arm, and falls asleep listening to Steve's heartbeat.

(He wakes up twice to the memory of Steve’s breathing just _stopping_ and Peggy oh so _still_ , but when his eyes snap open, his heart hammering in his chest, he hears Steve sigh against his ear and Peggy mutter something in her sleep. Bucky relaxes.)


	5. Chapter 5

“Good God I can’t feel my arm,” Bucky announces, stuck in the area between the two beds and Steve. “Steve, let go, I have to pee!”

Steve dutifully does so, and Bucky struggles to stand up. He falls back once, because his arm isn’t responding to him, but manages it the second time, sprinting to the bathroom. He shoves down his pants and does his business, thankful his bladder isn’t actually going to explode.

When he comes back Peggy has stolen his spot and fixed the gap between the two mattresses.

“I didn’t want to be cuddled up to Steve anyway, you ungrateful bastard.”

She hums and Steve giggles. Bucky sighs again and winds up being Peggy’s little spoon, her strong arms wrapped around him and pulling him close. Sighing in contentment, he vaguely hears Peggy mutter, “I only stole your spot because your foot was digging into my spine.”

“Everyone’s a critic,” Bucky mumbles.

Steve is positively shaking with the effort not to laugh out loud. “Go to sleep, we’re only seven hours into this nap,” he manages at last.

“Sure thing, Cap,” Bucky mutters. “Wait, I was dreamin' somthin’.”

“What?”

“Dreamed I was a chilli pepper,” he says seriously.

“Hmm,” Steve says, amused, “I wonder what that means.”

“Means he’s hot, Captain, now go to sleep,” Peggy sighs.

(Bucky only wakes up once this time, luckily.)

* * *

“I can’t feel my left leg,” Peggy announces. “And I smell of sweat and man.”

“That last one was your own fault,” Steve says. “This was actually your idea.”

“Of course it was. I always have the best ideas. But I need a shower.” She wiggles out of his arms and the bed bounces when she slides off, sitting on the floor until she can stand again. “Ah! Pins and needles!” She grabs her knee in one hand and rubs her calf with the other.

Bucky rolls over so he’s half draped over Steve and buries his face in the crook of Steve’s neck. He lets out a breath, relaxing into the familiar scent. He can see Peggy stand up and walk down the hall to the bathroom.

“Buck, your hair is tickling me.” Steve squirms under him, trying to shake him off a little bit.

Now slightly more awake, Bucky brings his right hand over and very carefully starts violently tickling Steve’s sides. Steve yelps with laughter and jolts away, falling right off the bed with a thump. Bucky cackles after him as Steve sits up and glares.

“Gentlemen! This water is hot! My goodness, this is spectacular!”

“Dear lord,” Steve breathes in awe, glancing to the door. He shoots up and away. “Save some space for me!”

“Seconded!” Bucky shouts after him, struggling to get un-tangled from the sheets and blankets with his one arm. “What the hell?”

He finally rolls out of bed and follows Steve into the bathroom. Peggy is already washing her hair and smiles at them through the steam. “This is fantastic. Two plus years at war makes one get used to the idea of a life full of lukewarm or cold water.”

Steve throws off his clothes and into the pile on the floor, slipping in after Peggy.

Bucky has to sit on the toilet seat to get some of his stuff off, but thinks the wait is worth it. When he finally steps in after them the hot water feels like heaven against his skin, the smell of shampoo fills his nose and he opens his eyes to see Steve washing his own blonde hair.

“Anyone mind giving me a hand with my bed-head?” Bucky gestures. He hasn’t yet admitted it’s a bit tricky to clean with one hand out loud, but if he can trick ‘em into doing it for him he doesn’t have to.

Peggy nods and squeezes past Steve with the bottle of shampoo. She squirts some over his head and starts massaging his scalp, being sure to really get the soap in. Bucky looks down so she can get better coverage. Her fingers feel amazing, absolutely perfect.

Once he’s all lathered up, he takes Steve's place under the hot spray with a quick kiss and a mumble of thanks, rinsing the suds out of his hair.

“I’m never leaving this shower. It’s got everything I need. My sweetheart, my doll, and this amazing hot water,” Bucky says, tilting up his head up to get the full brunt of the spray.

Peggy laughs and says, ”We have to get out eventually, darling.” She kisses his cheek before she goes back to scrubbing at her arms and chest with a soapy cloth.

Bucky sighs in defeat and lets Steve wash his back for him.

Eventually that’s done and he turns around to face Steve. Steve is giving Bucky a grin that’s so fond he wonders if it’s actually meant for him. Bucky watches as Steve brings his hand up to cup Bucky’s neck and rub a thumb over his cheekbone.

“You have the prettiest eyes,” he murmurs. “Bluer than th’ sky and eyelashes like an angel.” Bucky can feel himself flush as Steve gently pushes him against the cool tile, hands on his narrow hips, and leans down to start mouthing down Bucky’s neck with _clear_ intent. Peggy smiles and kisses Bucky, nipping his bottom lip as Steve presses kisses to his collarbone.

* * *

“So are we just going to hang around buck naked?” Bucky kicks at the pile of sweaty clothes.

“I have no intention to do so,” Peggy says. “I’ll just put on my pants and bra. What you gentlemen do is beyond my control.”

“Naked it is then.” Bucky wraps the towel around his waist by bracing one side of it against the bathroom counter. He gestures to the living room and kitchen. “Hey, Stevie, wanna try to figure out what all this shit does?”

Steve grins.

* * *

“This is easy, power button, channels, volume, settings. Most of this isn’t any more complex than what Stark made!” Steve exclaims. “It’s just smaller!” They’ve mostly figured out the kitchen, and have settled on the couch to watch the television. It’s kinda like a mini cinema in your living room. How about that.

“The only complex thing Stark ever made was you.” Peggy walks by them with a plate of jam and toast, settling at the end of the couch. “They don’t have any tea,” she mentions, crossing her legs and taking a bite of her meal. “If you want coffee you’ll have to figure that out yourself.”

“Later,” Bucky agrees, reaching for her second piece and getting his hand swatted away. He sighs and slumps into Steve’s lap, putting his feet on Peggy’s thighs.

“Guys, really,” Steve says fondly.

“I assume most of this telly is rubbish. Seventy years develops different forms of media and I doubt another war is going on based on what this country seems to be up to,” Peggy comments.

“Yeah, there’s this one shitty show called ‘Toddlers in Tiaras’ that's about beauty pageants for little kids. The kids are either little sociopaths with high ambition or really don’t want to be there,” Bucky says.

“Hey, this looks good,” Steve says suddenly, stopping on a different channel.

“Drunk History?” Peggy reads dubiously.

“Sure. Not any different from Dum-Dum telling us stories at the bar, right?” Bucky grins.

The intro is amusing but the subject the drunk historian is focusing on surprises the trio.

“ _The Howling Commandas, uh, no, Commandos. Yes, got it.”_ She starts, clearly intoxicated and squinting at the host.

_“Let’s start with the Captain, the original Americano, he was born in, uh, July 4, 1918 to Sarah Rogers, an Irish immigrant. Steve Rogers had basically everything as a child, he was sick all the time forever. His best buddy was James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, and they basically were inseparable._

_“Now, nobody really knows, uh, how they met, but I bet that Rogers was like.”_ Cut to actors, a little blonde kid pointing up at a taller, gruff-looking boy. “ _‘I don’t like bullies, so you should stop,“ and then he probably got beat up, but Bucky saw that and was like-”_ Another kid appears, _“-Hey, pick on somebody your own size,” but that’s a guess. So uh, they were friends for years, and years, living together and everything. Steve’s mother died of tuberculosis and Barnes got drafted as a sergeant during WWII._

_“Now, they go to the Stark Expo and Steve tries to enlist for like, the fifth or sixth time, I can’t remember. And Doctor Eriksen sees him and must find some potential in a one hundred pound man, because he’s like-_

Cut to actors, a tiny blond man with some vague resemblance to Steve looks up at a man in a fake beard. _“Ah yes, you, you little American you, you want to kill Nazis?” And then Steve’s like “Nah, bro. I just don’t like bullies. Don't care who they are.” So Steve goes to boot camp and tries his best, but he’s got every ailment you can have so he’s terrible at everything, but he’s a good dude, so he gets chosen for the Super-Soldier program. He isn’t the first super, they tried it on Peggy Carter first, with moderate success, but he’s the first guy, the first actual soldier._

_“So he’s there, all like, “Now I’m in this metal box, what now?” And Howard Stark is like, “We’re putting shit and chemical meds into you, and then we’re gonna fry you like a Thanksgiving turkey.” Steve’s like, “Cool” but five minutes later he’s like ‘Oh, damn, I’m tall and I can actually breath and my bones aren’t hurting me and that really hurt so I’m a bit confused.” But a HYDRA spy had infiltrated and shots, uh, shit, shoots, Doc Erk and steals the last bit of serum so there’s a wild goose chase and Steve follows him, breaking shit cuz he isn’t used to his body, but stops the guy from stealing the serum, but the thing breaks and it’s impossible to recreate it cuz Doc was really careful with his notes and that was the last of the shit._

_“Now, uh. This Philips guy is like, ‘I don’t need a science experiment in the army, so go do something else’ so Steve is like, “Okay’ and sells bonds for like, awhile. Now, eventually he goes overseas to perform for the troops, but they don’t give a shit about him and he just kinda chills, but then he finds out the the 107th was in a fight and a lot of people taken as POW’s, including Barnes, and he’s all like, “I gotta save my best pal, my Bucky” and Howard Stark and Peggy Carter is like ‘We got ‘chu” and they fly him over there.”_

The woman pauses to chug the rest of her drink before she continues.

_“Now, he’s like, ‘I’ve never been in a firefight, but this shield I use for preforming is good enough,” and turns out it is because he and Peggy Carter bust all the prisoners out and destroy the base with a lot of good intel. Bucky Barnes is like, “OMG you saved me, holy crap, hey wait, you're not asthmatic,” but this mole person of a HYDRA agent did freaky experiments to him, so he’s like, half a super-soldier even if they don’t know that yet, so they go back to the base with the freed men and get assigned a group cuz he did good. Now, a group of guys they saved, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Monty Falsworth, Jim Morita and Jacques Dernier are all like, “Yeah you saved us, and we aren't done yet, so we’re gonna chill with you and hunt down HYDRA because of reasons.” Now they named themselves the Howling Commandos and start busting up these bases, saving, like, thousands of lives, maybe a lot more and they’re this awesome team that works like like the best oiled machine._

_“Now, cut to a year and a half of doing that, the Alps mission. Now, it was supposed to be easy, but the HYDRA guys had better weapons at that point and a hole was blasted in the side of the train the Commandos were infiltrating and Bucky barnes falls out INTO A FREAKING CANYON, AT LEAST one hundred and fifty FEET HIGH, and is, you know, presumed dead. They finish the mission, but everybody is like, super sad because Barnes died. And they go back to base, but Barnes shows up in a stolen car and is like,”_ cut to the actors again, a guy who bares a resemblance to Bucky has a fake bloody sleeve and looks like hell.

_“What the fuck I was only gone for a few hours. It takes more than falling off a cliff and losing an arm to stop me. Where the hell is Peggy and Steve?”_

_“Now the reports say he woke at the bottom of the cliff, tourniquets his stub, and was about to try to find his way out when a couple of HYDRA dudes showed up, probably like, ‘Yeah the guy with half-serum fell. We can use his body for science reasons.” And Bucky is an arm down and has no gun but he manages to beat them anyway. He takes their stuff and their car and goes back to base because he figures Steve is gonna do something stupid._

_“So he shows up five hours later with an arm and gets treated by a medical professional before going off to find those two, Pegs and Steve, and they’re super happy he’s alive. Obviously. Now, I don’t really know what was happening with those three, because there’s evidence Steve and Peggy were romantic, but I think Steve was gay for Bucky too._

_“Anyway, a few minor missions go by and finally they go to stop Herr Schmidt, the Red Skull, who had a literal red skull, the leader of HYDRA. Now, the three supers all get on this super ship called the Valkyrie and go to stop him, but turns out he has, like, nukes. They kill Skull, or something, and try to take the ship, but the power source was destroyed, or whatever, so they have to force the ship down before it can destroy New York, which is where it was headed. Carter calls it into the SSR and the ship crashes with those three somewhere in the Arctic._

_“A nation mourns, and the the war ends a few months later._ ” Cut back to the drunk woman, she squints and points at the camera, swaying slightly. “ _It was so cool. I mean, not the war or anything, but that power crew did amazing things to save the world._ ”

“And that was our entire history told by an intoxicated woman,” Peggy says.

“Wow,” Steve mumbles.

* * *

A SHIELD agent comes by around noon to check on them and Bucky is not ashamed to say that he is still in a towel. The man stutters and blushes and tries not to look at them before he gets a list of the things that they need.

New clothing, more food, the shield, preferably, maybe someone to tell them what had happened since they froze, and files on what had happened to their friends.

They clean up a little after the guy leaves, putting the table back, shoving the mattresses back into a room, and generally making it look less like they were camping out.

After their stuff is dropped off, they dress and read through the files, upset to see that everyone they knew is gone, including Howard.

Stark died in a car wreck, apparently, but left behind quite the legacy. His son, Tony Stark, is now the co-CEO of the Fortune 500 company Stark Industries and has a side occupation as ‘Iron Man.’ He pilots a suit of armor with weapons systems and the ability to fly. Bucky glances at a picture of Tony Stark and comments on how much he looks like his father.

The Commandos have all died of sickness or age. They all lived good lives, had families, served, and retired just like that.

Bucky feels a wave of discomfort and confusion. “They were alive just yesterday,” he says. “The fact that to us they lived and died in just that span…” he shakes his head. “God, it’s a lot to take in.”

Steve nodded. “Seventy years in the span of a nap.”

“A century in a second. It feels like I’m still at war,” Peggy admits. “It doesn’t feel like they’re gone.”

“We’ll deal with it as a team. Just like everything we come across,” Steve says firmly.


	6. Chapter 6

“So what is this? I mean, exactly?” Bucky asks the doctor standing before the trio in the gym. They have finally been given clearance to escape their fishbowl and are in the middle of a good workout.

“To be accurate, we need to find out exactly how you all work together as a team, what you trust each other with, what you hold grudges over-”

“I’m hearing couples counseling.”

“I second that,” Peggy puts in, bumping Steve's shoulder meaningfully.

“Look,” Bucky starts. “We'll show you a couple of good ol’ World War Two super-soldier trust exercises and then you can just go about your day and say we were A+, deal?”

She gives him a curious look. “Fine, show me what you’ve got.”

Ten minutes and six destroyed punching bags later, the lady is starting to be impressed.

* * *

They are slowly exposed to what happened in the time they were under. History, advancements, social media, politics, everything. Bucky could easily admit that it is one of the most complicated mess of files and reading he has had to deal with.

He is very thankful for the computer, though. They spend hours reading and researching topics they wouldn’t dare ask about without the necessary information.

Gay rights, gay marriage, sexuality, polyamory relationships, feminist movements, women's-rights, themselves, everything that would be weird to ask face to face.

The banana thing pisses everyone off. How the hell does an entire species of banana go extinct?

But other than that they find the price change freaky, have big emotions and opinions about politics and politicians, wonder about health movements, and really want to check out the outside world.

They aren’t even allowed outside because SHIELD finds them weird. Their dynamic frustrates SHIELD because Steve is in charge, but everyone does what Peggy wants, and Bucky is a sassy little shit who doesn’t have any self preservation instincts. SHIELD is afraid if the trio is let outside they’d start a fight with some asshole or another. SHIELD was also worried that they would be recognized.

So the three positively destroy the gym out of frustration and SHIELD decides maybe some fresh air will do them some good.

* * *

“Jesus, Stevie. Wouldja look at that.”

“It’s kinda ugly,” Steve squints up at the building.

Peggy swats Steve over the head. “Be nice! That’s Howard's son's tower.”

“Okay,” Steve complies easily. “It aesthetically displeases me.”

“You’re such an ass,” Bucky chuckles. “But you can’t control an artist, so I guess I knew what I was getting into.”

Bucky trails off as he watches a same-sex couple walk by, holding hands without a care in the world. The other two notice his silence and glance over to what’s caught his attention.

“Okay, who gets center,” Steve asks. “Buck has to have the left, because of his arm, but we’re interchangeable.”

“Me first,” Peggy says, slipping between them and grabbing their hands. “Now, where to next?”

* * *

They go clothes shopping, borrowing one of the SHIELD issue cars, and Peggy has a blast. Steve and Bucky get the basics and some other things they like, but Peggy goes into it like she’s going to war. Due to the fact that their accounts weren't frozen when they ‘died’ and went MIA, they’re loaded. Peggy gets shoes, dresses, pants, shirts, sun glasses, some hats, make up, pajamas, anything she can get her hands on.

Needless to say, it’s a good day.

After dropping the stuff off at their place, they go back out and decide to go to the park for some sun time. Steve pops into a store and buys a ‘I <3 NY’ frisbee before they get there, and Peggy reads while Steve and Bucky toss is back and forth like the shield. Bucky loves the feel of hot sun on his skin, the burn in his arm and legs from the exercise, and the grass under his bare feet.

Steve’s smile looks like the sun, Peggy looks like a goddess, and Bucky can’t think of any better crew to be stuck in another century with.


	7. Chapter 7

_(“You can buy things over the internet.”_

Bucky spits out his coffee and shoots an astonished look over at a very excited Peggy.

“No. Fucking. Way.”)

* * *

Amazingly, SHIELD doesn’t really figure out their arrangement until they actually go out and get rings, one for each person, just like Peggy had insisted. Matching and simple, gold bands with a small diamond. The rings were engraved with names. Bucky’s say _Peggy_ and _Steve_ in elegant script. Peggy’s says _James_ and _Steve_ while Steve’s says _Peggy_ and _Bucky_.

Bucky likes its weight, it makes it feel real, solid.

So, when the SHIELD agent comes to check on them, he looks at Steve and Bucky, meeps, stutters something out, and vanishes as quickly as he came.

“What the hell was that?” Bucky turns to Steve, who is blinking at the agent’s retreating form.

“Dunno, you naked again?”

“Nope. Peggy?”

“Not today!” She calls from the bedroom, sounding amused. “Darling, aren’t we going to that meeting with Director Fury in a half an hour?”

Bucky checks his watch, his book snapping shut after he lets go. He scowls at the novel momentarily, but does actually manage to glance at the time.

“Yeah, doll.”

“Very well, should I wear a dress or something simple?”

“Maybe simple,” Bucky thinks. “No need to get all dressed up for a meeting.”

“Then I’ll be out in just a mo’.”

* * *

True to her word she wears a nice pair of dark pants, one of Steve’s shirts, and puts on her favorite red lipstick just before they go to meet Fury to discuss their future and living arrangements.

He’s talking to the agent who visited with an odd look on his face. The agent finishes his message and darts from the room like a startled tadpole.

Steve sits first, Bucky and Peggy hovering in a power position.

“Would someone care to explain to me what the rings are all about?” Fury growls in irritation.

Bucky grins. “Well, any self-respecting soldier must have someone to balance them out,” he flops across Steve’s lap dramatically.

“And someone to maintain peace in the ranks,” Peggy finishes, sitting across Bucky’s so they're boxing Steve in, giving him only a window to see Fury as he smiles and blushes like crazy. Both people sitting on Steve press a kiss to the blonde’s cheeks at the same time.

Bucky draws back and pauses. “I’m surprised this chair isn’t breaking,” Bucky says.

“James Barnes, are you calling me fat?” Peggy says, mock scandalized.

“Never, doll.”

Fury looks like he is going to have an aneurysm.

* * *

Now, because of marriage laws, they can’t actually get married to each other, but it’s the thought that counts.

* * *

They’re given a smallish apartment just outside of the SHIELD main base of operation in New York and told they will be monitored and called upon in if needed until they figure out a permanent situation.

Peggy wishes they had more closet space or a little more space at all, but beggars can’t be choosers and it’s definitely nicer than the apartment they had had before the war.

* * *

Steve freezes at the doorway, choking on his sip of coffee. His eyes go wide and he blinks in shock.

Bucky beams at him. “Thigh-highs,” he says reverently. Peggy, next to him, does a little showy spin, kicking up a heel to show off awesome constellations and a bright blue sun.

Bucky gestures down at his own, ones that look as though fancy American flags are painted on his legs. Both he and Peggy are down to their undergarments and Steve looks like he’s dying from something.

“You alright there, _Bunny_ ?” Bucky asks innocently, giving Steve _the look_. Steve sets the mug down on the counter.

Then he darts over so fast Bucky doesn’t even see him move. In less than a second he’s picked up Peggy, her legs wrapping around him, supernovae and the beautiful depths of space closing around the blonde. They latch mouths and Steve groans as Peggy nips at his bottom lip, smirking.

Bucky grins triumphantly and slides behind Steve. He tugs Steve’s ear with his teeth and, when Steve’s breath hitches, he starts mouthing wet kissed down Steve's neck.

Best. Buy. Ever.

And very successful, he must add.

* * *

They spend their days rediscovering a new century and going out. They watch TV, go out, eat, read, watch movies, and listen to music. Buying neat shit over the internet, too.

Usually at least one of them has nightmares each night. Most are about falling. Others are about pain.

But it doesn’t matter, because they always wake to the comfort of being in each other’s arms.

Except the time Bucky is kicked off the bed and has a bit of a flashback. Peggy is quick to slide off the bed and apologize over and over again, holding his hand as he gasps for air and shivers against phantom snow and the awful, leaching feeling that comes from his stump.

* * *

Bucky wakes up on a lazy Saturday morning sometime after one. He blinks blearily at his surroundings. Oh right, half-wedged under Steve on the couch.

The knocking comes again and Bucky sighs, pulling himself out from under the mass of humans.

When he stands, Bucky stretches and stumbles to the door, throwing it open and peering through unfocused eyes. Fury stands there in his usual black leather cloak of doom, holding a file in hand.

“What?” Bucky yawns, rubbing his eye with the back of his wrist.

Fury eyes Bucky, lips twitching in amusement. “You usually wear Captain America boxers around the house?”

Bucky looks down and finds that, yes, that’s all he is wearing, except for the ring on the chain around his neck. “I just woke up,” he defends uselessly.

“And here I thought you guys did nothing but workout all day. Can I come in?”

Bucky nods and waves him forward, stepping near the wall to give Fury a clear pathway.

Fury pauses to stare at what’s happening on the couch. Peggy is flat on her back in a sports bra and some briefs while Steve is laying over her with his head on her shoulder and her hand in his boxers, right over his left asscheek. Steve has socks on, too, so he is probably the most dressed out of all of them.

They are so goddamn cute. He feels like ignoring Fury so he can  just go back over there and squeeze them tight. Fucking adorable.

“We were napping,” Bucky explains. “Now, what do you want?”

“I think you’ll want everybody awake for what I’m about to say.”

Bucky sighs. He steps over and shakes Peggy and Steve awake. They both make annoyed, displeased sounds, followed by glaring up at him.

“We got company,” he shrugs, nodding at Fury. They start to sit up in a tangle of limbs.

“I can’t feel my arm!” Peggy grimaces.

“Tell me about it, doll,” Bucky grins.

“Was your hand on my butt?” Steve asks in confusion.

“It was, but it doesn't matter because I couldn’t even enjoy that experience.”

“I don’t think that's how that works,” Steve says in amusement, watching her wave her arm around to get the feeling back.

“Okay,” Bucky says, turning back to Fury. “What’s up? Got a mission? Getting us back out in the world?”

“Trying to save it.” Fury hands Bucky a folder and he unsuccessfully tries flipping it open with one hand. Grumbling, he surrenders it to the two on the couch. Steve opens it for them and holds it at an angle that they can all see.

“Oh, fuck, the cube,” Bucky says, staring at the picture.

“It’s been taken,” Fury says, frowning in displeasure.

“By who?” Peggy asks, glancing up and giving a pointed look.

“Loki, he's… not from around here. That’s a briefing packet and a car will be coming around to take you to the Helicarrier soon. You better get ready, because this guy is bringing an army.”


	8. Chapter 8

They get dressed in functional clothing in under six minutes with only moderate swearing and angry quips.

“Hey, this guy tried to recreate the serum that built you two,” Bucky mentions, flipping through the file. ”Doctor Robert Bruce Banner, physicist, focusing on gamma radiation. Failed really bad, he turns into what they call the ‘Hulk’, big green monster looking thing, basically invulnerable, no real intelligence other than ‘smash’ and ‘bad, must smash’.”

“I don’t even really know how to reply to that except to send my thanks to Erskine,” Steve says, shrugging on his brown leather coat.

Peggy walks through the hall and nods once in agreement, wearing a white blouse, black jacket and a pair of dark grey pants.

Bucky glances at Steve’s choice wear. “You look like an old man.”

“I _am_ an old man,” Steve says.

“Then why the fuck does Peggy look so good.”

“I age well,” she says simply.

* * *

“Well fuck me six days to sunday,” Bucky says, watching the carriers turbines start to whirl and wine as it lifts the weight of the aircraft carrier out of the water.

“Oh, no, this is much worse,” Banner comments.

Steve nudges Peggy and Bucky. “Look, I don’t know about you two, but I’m pretty sure I crashed something bigger than this into the arctic,” Steve says.

“Were you always this much of a smart ass?” Bucky asks rhetorically, putting his hand on his hip.

“Boys, boys, you're missing the point of combining a helicopter and a aircraft carrier. You can put aircrafts on aircrafts,” Peggy says, rolling her eyes sarcastically.

They pause for a second. “God, people sure love puttin’ stuff in stuff in this century.”

“The turducken,” Steve agrees.

“I feel like we need to try that at some point.” Bucky says thoughtfully. “I mean, super soldiers have increased metabolism, so more food…”

Bucky’s gaze falls on the red head beside them. Agent Romanov is giving the group an odd look. “Are all your conversations like this?”

“Like what?” Peggy asks.

Romanov shrugs. “Just… strange. Weren’t you arguing over the right way to pronounce ‘egg’ at some point?”

“After Agent Coulson almost pissed himself with excitement and told us he watched us while we were sleeping?” Bucky clarifies. “And we were. I mean, there's the _real way_ to say it, and there's the technically possibly grammatically way to say it.”

Banner snorts subtly.

* * *

Bucky is humming the Imperial March loudly as he looks around the bridge of the helicarrier. He pauses thoughtfully. “Is that man playing a video game?” Bucky asks, pointing across the control room. The man in question hastily closes the window and glances over his shoulders.

Fury rolls his eyes and tells Romanov to lead Banner to his lab to track the tesseract.

“I’m just saying, if they can make a flying ship, then they can make flying cars,” Bucky sighs once the two people go, internally cracking up at Peggy’s glare.

“If either of you bring it up _one more time_ , I am personally _slamming you into the floor_ and leaving to watch Banner poke at computers,” she threatened loudly, pointing at the two men. Most of the agents in the control room look over their shoulders at the interaction, clearly knowing who they are, but seem put out by their conversation. Even Fury narrows his eye.

“Well, Buck’s right. Real shame,” Steve draws out, “Howard was so clo- arg!” Steve cuts out with a yelp as Peggy darts forward, grabs his belt and collar, and lifts him over her head in an arc to do exactly as she said. The breath is knocked out of him instantly and he gasps in surprise.

Seeing him down, she turns on her heel and stalks after Banner. The room fills with silence until-

“Whadda woman!” Bucky whoops, really wishing he could clap. “God DAMN!”

Steve rolls over and sits up, hands on his knees, “Didn’t really think she’d do it!” He wheezes, trying to catch his breath.

“Then you’re just as much of a dumbass as you were seventy years ago, sweetheart!” Bucky cackles, jogging to follow Peggy down the hall. “She’s beauty,” he announces at large, “She’s grace,” he spins to face Steve dramatically, “ _She’ll punch you in the face!_ ”

Steve watches his retreating form before looking sheepishly to Fury. Fury gives him a look of confusion and impressed disbelief.

* * *

“Captain.”  

Steve looks over at Fury. Peggy and Bucky have since joined Steve in the bridge, not understanding a word of what Banner was jabbering about, and look over at Fury as well.

“Grab your team. You’re up.”

Steve nods and follows Coulson down the hall to where his uniform and shield are being kept. Peggy and Bucky follow behind, mentally preparing themselves. They enter the room swiftly and walk a little ways down.

The panels in the wall open up and Bucky coughs. Steve looks at him and Peggy, who are both barely containing laughter. Bucky makes an undignified noise and cracks up, Peggy glancing away, trying to contain her laughter.

“Put on the suit, Cap,” Bucky wheezes. “I can’t-,” he starts laughing again. “Look at all the useless zippers!” He cackles and Peggy laughs, not even looking over. “The belt!”

Coulson flushes and looks up at the ceiling.

“Can I just wear what I came out of the ice with?” Steve asks desperately.

“It’s damaged,” Coulson mutters.

Bucky walks over to the other panels and opens them ever so slightly. He pales instantly and closes it. “NO.”

“Let me see,” Peggy demands, pushing him out of the way and throwing them wide open. She just stares for a second, taking it in before her hands shoot over to her mouth and she tries, and fails, to contain her laughter. “It's just like the comics!” She chokes out, bending at the waist ever so slightly to hide her red face.

“I wasn’t sixteen dammit!” Bucky says in exasperation. “Go check yours! Betcha it’s a bullet proof pencil skirt!”

She gets ahold of herself just as Steve starts dressing. She crosses the room and carefully eases her drawer open to peek inside. “Oh, you beauty,” she says, opening them with gusto. It’s a well crafted SHIELD tactical suit with protective armor and an arsenal of hand held weapons. Black and grey, no flashy colors, and clearly built for agility and protection rather than over sexualizing it, unlike SHIELD cat-suits.

“What the fuck, Pegs,” Steve says, pausing the action of pulling on the pants. “You’ve got this fantastic suit and I’m wearing a glorified American flag.”

“Yeah, well you don’t look like a sixteen year old sidekick!” Bucky snaps at him in irritation.

“Point,” Steve admits, finally dressing and zipping up the front. “How do I look?” He makes a wide gesture and faces Bucky.

“Like a glorified American flag,” Bucky repeats Steve's words.

Steve stretches in the uniform. “At least it’s maneuverable.”

Peggy leans to the side and looks at the back. “James, look at this,” she waves him over.

Bucky scoots to her side and whistles lowly. “ _Nice_ .” He tries to make the picture framing motion, but, with one arm, fails. “Really outlines his _ass-_ ets, huh? Nice job, Coulson.”

Coulson turns bright red.

“Oh my God, guys,” Steve groans, facepalming.


	9. Chapter 9

They make Bucky put on the stupid uniform just like Steve, though he outright refuses to wear the stupid mask.

* * *

The initial fight between Loki and the others ends when Stark blasts Loki in the chest and Peggy puts in a finishing punch that sends Loki into a daze.

Bucky, who chooses to stay in the jet, smiles proudly at his awesome lovers.

* * *

They’re taking Loki back to base when some big buff blonde strides in, snatches Loki, and jumps right back out.

Peggy and Bucky watch in resignation as Stark and Steve argue about what they should do. Stark blasts out of the jet to chase them down and Steve has the mind to follow Iron Man right out the hatch.

“Steve, Steve no. Please don’t jump out of the plane, come on, this is pointless- and there he goes. Fucking dumbass. Does he think the blonde with a hammer is just gonna be cool with him saying that he needs Loki?”

“He’s very persuasive,” Peggy says.

“Yeah, but only in _bed_ ,” Bucky stresses.

* * *

Ten minutes later Bucky squints down at the destroyed forest. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Peggy says in exasperation before she hands him the binoculars. He looks through them and ends up snickering.

“Well that clearly didn’t go well,” Peggy comments.

“Yeah, but look at that. He made a perfect circle,” Bucky says, squinting through the binoculars again. “I don’t think art can recreate that.”

* * *

“I’m just supposed to watch him?” Bucky asks Fury, or rather, complains questioningly.

“You got two working eyes, don’tcha?” Fury asks in perfect deadpan.

The irony of that comment doesn’t escape Bucky, but he choses not to mention it.

He sighs and looks over at the grinning Norse god. “From what I know about cruelty and Norse gods, probably not for much longer.”

Fury levels him a look that says what Fury asked him to do was an order rather than a request.

“Yeah, yeah. Got it,” Bucky mutters. He takes the huge sciency looking gun from Fury and weighs it in his hand. “Alright. I’ll just wait here then.”

Bucky sits back in a nearby chair and watches Fury walk away, Peggy and Steve casting worried glances behind them.

The silence in which Bucky thinks about multiple types of food and what he should do if the world isn’t destroyed, is interrupted when Loki speaks.

“You don’t deserve them.”

“Damn straight. I must be one lucky bastard,” Bucky quips. He doesn’t like Loki’s arrogant know-it-all tone one bit.

Loki blinks, clearly not expecting that answer. “You… aren’t going to deny my words?”

“Fuck no. I _am_ one lucky bastard. If I only had Steve it’d still be a fucking miracle, but I got him _and_ Pegs. That’s the bee's knees in my book. Seriously, they could do way better, but they decided to keep my ass, so I ain’t about to argue.”

Loki frowns. “Isn’t that complicated? Don’t you love one more than the other?”

“Nope. Love ‘em both equal. Doesn’t matter which one I had first,” Bucky says firmly. He notices in interest that Loki’s eyes sort of... flicker... at his words.

Loki tries to look for another way to manipulate him.

“And what of your arm? Do you blame your Captain for its loss? Miss doing things you can’t with only one limb?”

“Nope. That was my own dumb ass. I followed Steve into war, I was prepared for the consequences.”

Loki flounders.

Bucky pushes on, seeing how his inflexibility is bothering the god. “Let me tell you what wasn’t in the reports Barton probably told you about. After I fell off the train I came to thinkin’ Peggy kicked me off the bed. I opened my eyes to snow and the first thing I thought **wasn’t** that it was Steve's fault I lost an arm, or it was Peggy who planned the mission, so she’s to blame. It was, fuck, I need to get back to them to tell them this is not their fault in any way, shape, or form. I had to stop the bleeding myself and almost vomited three times at least. Having an arm ripped off is painful, pal. Seeing the arm that got ripped off was worse. And you know the best thing?”

Loki looks intrigued.

“A couple HYDRA guys, these villains if you will, came lookin’ for my body. I didn’t have a single weapon, so guess what I did.”

“What?”

“I grabbed my frozen arm and used it like a club is what I did.” Bucky nods firmly. Loki gapes at him. “Killed the first guy and startled the next into a moment of hesitation. Shot the second guy with the first’s gun and stole his hat, ‘cuz I was freezin’ to death. It was the most disgusting thing I did during war, and I did it to get back to my sweetheart and my doll.”

“And what am I supposed to get out of this?” Loki asks, curiously.

“I’ll do just about anything for the people I love, that’s what you should get outta this. Bet your brother would too. You think Thor likes ya enough to do something like that?”

Loki’s eyes flicker again, “I-I don’t…” He looks down. “I think he might.” When he looks up his eyes are forest green, not the icy blue. He looks panicked.

“And why the fuck are your eyes changin’ color?” Bucky scowls.

“Please-!” They flicker back to blue and his posture changes back to arrogant and otherworldly. “Whatever do you mean?” He asks coolly, as if that last outburst hadn’t happened.

“What the hell?” Bucky places the gun in his lap and touches his earpiece. “Guys, you getting this?”

“You think he’s under some sort of control?” Steves voice calls back.

“Maybe.”

Loki seems to shake his head a bit and knuckles his forehead in confusion. In less than a second he’s snapping to attention like a puppet on marionette strings. This time his eyes are glowing blue, radiating it. Whoever has the puppet on the stings seems to be pulling harder than Loki can.

Back to cool as a cucumber, smiling easily and seeming to own the power over the situation.

“I am no longer comfortable being in this room, can I go now?” Bucky asks.

“Negative,” Fury says in his ear. “We need you to keep an eye on him. If his cronies show up, you gotta keep ‘em back.”

“Roger that,” Bucky sighs.

* * *

“Everything special about you came out of a _bottle_ ,” Tony spits.

Peggy slaps him so hard he falls over. Bucky starts cursing him out over the comms.

* * *

“Oh shitfuck- !” Bucky yelps as an explosion rocks the ship and he falls off his chair. He slams into the ground and feels the wind get knocked out of him, the feeling of suffocation jolting through his lungs and head. He gasps for air and scrambles to stand up, ditching the super weapon next to the chair and grabbing the gun on the holster at his waist.

Loki can’t get out himself, but if regular people are coming, a gun with the power to blow up only one man isn’t going to help him.

Bucky listens to the voices in his ear as the others scramble to stop the infiltration. Steve and Stark go to repair the engine, Banner goes full on Hulk, Natasha tries to get Banner under control, Thor is trying to distract and stop the Hulk, and Peggy is working with Fury and Hill to get the attackers.

From what Bucky can hear, Peggy's ripping those guys a new hole and Steve is snarking at Stark about electricity.

Soon after, a few men in heavy black armor burst into the room to free Loki. Bucky makes quick work of the unprepared men and reloads with an easy click. As stupid as the uniform is, it does make allowances for him not having an arm. He simply taps the side of the holster with his wrist and a new round clicks out. He discharges the empty one and slams the butt of the gun home. Only takes two seconds, and he has at least eight rounds hidden somewhere.

He can feel his heart pound in his chest as he hopes that they all make it out of this alive. “What am I talking about? We fucking survive everything,” he mutters to himself, peeking around the corner to see a whole fucking _squad_ come in and swarm over the control panel. There is no way he’s stopping that with that many heavy weapons pointed his way.

Loki steps out like the leader he is and directs half of them away, not mentioning where Bucky is hiding. He takes this as an opening and slides out into a firing position, body facing away and arm extended, just like Peggy showed him. He manages to kill six before Loki whirls around and shoots a flaming bolt of green at him.

It slams into his side heavily and Bucky goes down, sliding across the floor and under the barrier bordering the walkway around Loki’s cage. The one that can drop out of the sky at a moment's notice. He loses his earpiece at the impact, so calling for backup is a useless task.

Swearing, he grabs at whatever he can, barely managing to curl his fingers around the edge of the platform. Bucky gives a muffled curse. If he had a second arm, he could just pull himself up, but for now he’s stuck dangling until someone helps him. Luckily, he can hold on for hours if needed. He can hear the clang of his gun and his earpiece hitting the hatch dozens of feet below him and sighs.

Why does Bucky keep falling off of shit? Is this going to be a recurring thing?

Then something happens out of Bucky's sight. A loud noise when Thor comes in, Loki saying something about Thor always falling for something.

Bucky looks around both sides until he twists enough to get a view of gold hair and a flash of tan skin. Thor is trapped in the cell. The thunder god, in a fit of rage, slams his hammer onto the glass in an attempt to bust out. Bucky hears the glass crack, but is more occupied with how it shakes the room and drops the containment unit down a notch.

“The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?” Loki asks smugly.

The hatch under the cell opens, and Bucky watches with displeasure and a cold memory  (Metal wrenching and breaking, falling, falling, pure white snow swirling around him, a flash of blue and white and grey and _pain_ ).

There’s a pause as he stares in horror at the ground which is  so far away and so green, then the container suddenly shoots out like a cannon, making the roaring wind that much louder.

Bucky hears footsteps coming towards him and looks up to catch sight of raven hair and blinding white teeth coupled with glowing blue eyes.

“Why, I quite thought I had gotten rid out you!” Loki says, fake smiling down at him.

“If fallin’ off a cliff doesn’t kill me, hitting me with a green bolt ain’t gonna do the trick either,” Bucky says, defiant to the end. God, if he dies here, he’s thankful Steve and Peggy don’t have to watch him fall again.

“I’ll just have to rectify that then.” Loki smiles maliciously and puts his boot on Bucky’s fingers. Bucky feels his hairs stand on end. His heart races as Loki applies only a slight threatening pressure. That little action says more than words can.

A smack of bone against metal and a body slumping to the ground. The last guard. “Move away, please.”

The foot lifts off his hand as Loki takes a step back.

Coulson speaks again. “You like this? We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?” It must be the gun Fury handed Bucky earlier.

A loud _snk_ sound and a gasp echos over the howling wind that pulls at Bucky’s sleeves. Bucky's heart drops as he sees Loki’s form vanishes in a swirl of green magic.

Bucky hears a body slump to the floor and fast gasping breaths. Loki hums in displeasure. He turns to proceed to leave. Pausing only to put his boot back on Bucky’s fingers.

A weak and rough voice pipes up. “You're gonna lose.”

Bucky closes his eyes. That _dumbass_...

Loki turns, “Am I?”

 **“** It's in your nature,” Coulson confirms.

“Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky, my own boot decides the fate of this so called ant of a hero… where is my disadvantage?”

Loki puts more pressure on Bucky's fingers and he hisses in pain. At this rate, Loki will break his fingers before he drops.

“You lack conviction.”

Loki frowns. “ I don't think I…”

A loud crackling boom sends Loki flying off Bucky's hand and crashing through the metal wall. Bucky, suprised, can only stare, jaw dropping open like he’s some sort of fish.

“So that's what it does.” Coulson coughs weakly.

Bucky realizes that Coulson might be dying right now and looks down. Nothing. “Fucking fuck!” He growls. “I don’t fucking care if that asshole is being mind controlled, I’m going to fuck his pearly white teeth up so bad he can't string two words together!”

Coulson wheezes and shifts. Bucky looks up in surprise to see a pale ashen face looking down at him and a cold hand grab his wrist. Phil Coulson, somehow mustering enough strength to lift Bucky up, pulls and pulls until Bucky can get his chest over the side and roll to safety.

Coulson's chest is a mess of blood and torn clothing. “Never thought I’d see the day I rescued my own hero.”

“Shit, we have to get pressure on that!” Bucky gasps.

“It’s probably too late,” Coulson admits, coughing wetly into his hand. When he looks back up at Bucky his lips are dripping blood.

“Lay the fuck down before I put you down myself,” Bucky threatens. Phil winces as he lies back at the order. Blood is already pooling by the time Bucky starts to put pressure on the wound with only one hand.

“Shit shit shit shit.” This is fucking useless. Bucky rips his bloody hand away and snatches the comm from Coulson's ear. “Does anybody read me?”

“Bucky? What happened?!” Steve asks just as Bucky goes back to applying pressure.

“I need a medical team at the containment area ASAP!”

“Are you hurt?” Peggy asks urgently.

“No, it’s Coulson. It’s bad, real bad.”

“There are EMT’s on their way right now, just keep him awake,” Fury barks.

“What the fuck do you think I’m trying to do- hey hey hey, no eye closing here. It ain’t your bed-time, kid!” Bucky barks, hand shooting back to the wound.

“‘M older ‘n you,” Coulson slurs, his eyes opening slightly more before dropping again.

“I’m countin’ the time I was a popsicle,” Bucky says seriously.

Coulson jerks as he coughs, blood bubbling at his lips from ragged breaths.

“Hey, you live through this and I’ll get Steve and Pegs to sign your stupid cards with me,” Bucky promises.

Coulson manages to open his eyes more and smile at him softly, looking both peaceful and like a warzone all at once. “I- I’ll hold you to that,” he says hoarsely.

The thumping of feet reaches Bucky's ears, and suddenly Fury is at Coulson's other side.

“Sorry, boss. They got rabbited.” Coulson apologizes. Bucky is caught off guard. The guy who saved Bucky’s life is apologizing as he bleeds out? Why the hell-

“Just stay awake. EYES ON ME!” Fury growls, pushing Bucky’s hand out of the way and replacing it with both of his own.

“Okay, boss. I-” Coulson blinks. “I’m seein’ dark spots.” Coulson is slurring again. He looks up at Fury and then Bucky, squinting. “Haveta take a raincheck on those cards, afta you save th’ planet,” he slurs weakly.

Then the med squad arrives and swarms over the half-dead agent. The EMTs push the two out of the way and they dejectedly walk down the halls to meet up with whoever is left.


	10. Chapter 10

“Oh, Bucky, Jesus,” Steve gasps, hovering over him. Bucky looks down to see blood covering his knees, his hand, some flecked over his front.

“It’s not mine,” he says dully.

Peggy rushes over to him and hovers as well. “Let's get you cleaned up, shall we darling?”

* * *

Ten minutes later, now dressed in a modified SHIELD uniform (having clipped the one arm accessable gear to it), the remaining crew gather. Stark, Peggy, Steve, and Bucky. Supposedly Romanov is with Barton, getting him through a type of recalibration.

“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket,” Fury starts, throwing blood spattered cards on the table. Steve picks one up to look at it. “It might be harder to sign ‘em now.”

“But he’s alive,” Stark says hopefully.

“I’ve seen men dead of slighter wounds,” Bucky says. Stark’s face falls.

“He’s alive, just barely,” Fury clarifies. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I got the call now saying that he didn’t make it.”

Stark rubs his hands over his face.

“Last words I got outta him was his belief in you guys. He was positive that if he woke up, it’d be to a free world. And, yes, Stark, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson might die still believing in that idea, in heroes.”

Bucky swallows thickly. Stark clearly can’t take it any more and stands up, fists clenched tight and eyes closed in pain. They snap open and he whirls around, stalking out.

“Well,” Fury says in resigned disappointment. “It's an old fashioned notion.”

Steve looks to his lovers and then back at Stark’s retreating form. Bucky nods slightly and Peggy glances at him. “Go talk to him,” she says.

Steve is up and following the billionaire in just a second.

* * *

Bucky and Peggy are sitting in the room that held the uniforms when Steve came in. He’s looking like a man on a mission.

“Suit up, we’re going after Loki.”

Peggy perks up. “You got us a ride, Captain?”

“Just about.”

“You still wearing that trainwreck of a uniform?” Bucky asks, standing.

“For this fight? Yeah. It feels like I owe it to Coulson.”

* * *

The group marches toward a stray quinjet with clear intention. Bucky is mentally counting his rounds and checking his sniper rifle. It’s a new prototype and looks a hell of a lot like one of the weapons HYDRA used. It’s even got that glowy blue thing going on.

The person checking the systems of the jet protests, “You’re not authorized to be here…”

“Son…” Steve starts, looking frustrated. “Just don't.” They guy practically has a heart attack and scrambles off the ship.

“Just like Nazi Germany, right? Stealing shit with an engine and riding it to battle,” Bucky says, sitting down next to Peggy.

“Correction, Steve stole cars, we stole tanks and trains,” Peggy puts in as she clips her seat belt. “But Steve _should not_ drive this jet. Remember what happened last time Steve flew a plane?”

“Couldn’t forget if I tried, doll. This jet alone goes up higher than any of the shit in our day, and that's putting aside the fact that we're on a ‘carrier that _flies._ ”

At the front, Barton asks Romanov, “Are they always like this?”

“You get use to it.”


	11. The Invasion

**“** Stark, we're heading northeast,” Romanov reports. Bucky is too in awe at the sight of the massive portal in the sky to really listen. The aliens come pouring out of the tear in space and rain down on the city at a brutal pace.

“What, did you stop for drive-thru? Swing up Park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you.”

Bucky watches as the armor swoops around the corner, several of the invaders following closely behind. Romanov clicks something on the steering console and a huge set of machine guns take aim at the chitauri. She fires at them, killing a good portion of the aliens.

Barton looks out to his left window, swinging up the side of Stark Tower. He nods at the scene before him. “Yeah.” Confused, Bucky glances over to see Thor fighting ruthlessly against his brother on the patio space of Stark Tower.

“See them,“ Romanov confirms. Barton flicks a few buttons and whirls the jet around to prepare to fire.

Just as he starts to fire, Loki spins with a snarl, aiming his glowing scepter at the jet. The bolt of energy slams hard into the side of the jet, jarring the aircraft and twisting it to the side as the engine fails. Thor finally manages to get to his feet, tackling Loki hard.

Bucky hangs on tight as Barton tries to get control over the ship again. They spin and manage to slow down as they weave through skyscrapers.

“YOU AREN’T ANY FUCKING BETTER AT FLYING THAN STEVE IS!” Bucky shouts in terror.

“Nobody is worse at flying than Steve, don’t even start that!” Peggy quips, holding tight onto the straps of her seat, eyes squeezed shut. Then... they slam into the street. Steve gets knocked on his ass and Bucky can’t help a half-hysterical laugh.

The ship grinds to a halt and everyone quickly unclips and gets to their feet as the ramp falls open. Bucky and Peggy arm themselves, just like the others with their respective weapons in hand.

“Well, we lived, didn’t we?” Barton mutters when they exit the smoldering jet.

“Barely,” Bucky hisses. “I had six heart attacks on the way down. That’s bad for a man my age.”

They arrive in the middle of a four-way street. Bucky looks around at the battle ground and fleeing people. Suddenly, everything seems to stop. A deep rumbling roar makes Bucky and the others look up. A shadow passes over them.

“Is that a fuCKING SPACE WHALE?!” Bucky shouts.

The leviathan makes its descent, swooping over the group of five as they stare. Chitauri soldiers came bursting out of the sides of it and snag onto buildings, howling with joy.

“Stark, are you seeing this?” Steve asks.

“I'm seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?” filters through the comms.

“Banner?” Steve asks in confusion.

“Just keep me posted.”

The group runs behind upside-down taxis to take cover and plan their next move. They look up and see Loki taking his band down the street and firing, a chain of explosions rocking the area as cars go up in flames. Terrified people scramble for cover in nearby buildings.

Steve bites his lip and steels himself. “Those people down there need help.”

A squadron of chitauri land near them and start firing. Romanov stands up and fires off a few shots of her own.

She turns to Steve. “We got this. It's good. Go!”

Steve looks at Barton and Bucky. “You think you can hold them off?”

“Captain,” Barton starts, pulling a trigger on his bow it snaps open. “It would be my genuine pleasure.”

“You got it, babe,” Bucky grins. “Kiss for good luck!”

Steve and Peggy both lean over for a smack on the cheek. “Peggy, with me,” Steve commands.

Barton stands and shoots an arrow at the closest alien, giving Peggy and Steve the time to jump down off the bridge toward the fearful people.

Bucky stands with Barton and fires his experimental rifle, each of the chitauri going down with a burning hole in its chest.

“I want one of those,” Barton says.

“Get your own,” Bucky replies, shooting one who is about to sneak up on Romanov.

The trio scramble to evacuate people and kill as many chitari as they can at the same time. It soon becomes a motion, a dance with danger, an easy attack and defence system where each of the three work in concert. Truthfully, Bucky keeps expecting the shield to fly out and bounce to him, but that isn’t the case.

 **“** Just like Budapest all over again!” Romanova calls to Barton.

He gives her a look. “You and I remember Budapest very differently.”

“What the hell happened in Budapest?” Bucky exclaims. “Nevermind, I don’t want to know!”

Barton trips a soldier and slams an arrow down its throat. Romanov gets her hands on one of their guns and starts beating them off and shooting just like Bucky.

Steve and Peggy swoop out of nowhere and join them. They’re just starting to get overwhelmed when lightning scares the hell out of Bucky. It kills the surrounding chitari, making them drop to the ground.

Thor touches down, staggering slightly before righting himself and striding over.

“What's the story upstairs?” Steve asks breathlessly.

“The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable,” Thor says in frustration.

“Thor is right. We gotta deal with these guys,” Stark says over the comms.

“How do we do this?” Romanov asks, sounding bewildered and daunted.

“As a team,” Steve says firmly.

Thor growls, “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah? Get in line,” Barton says blandly.

“Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us…” Steve starts, pausing and looking over his shoulder as low putting comes over the area.

It’s Banner, on a small motorbike. He gets off and looks around. “So, this all seems horrible.”

Romanov sound strange when she says, “I've seen worse.”

Banner grimaces apologetically. “Sorry.”

“No. We could use a little worse,” she says.

“Stark? We got him,” Steve smiles up at the sky as Iron Man passes a few roads down, just the tiniest speck of red.

“Banner?”

“Just like you said,” Steve confirms.

“Then tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you.” Iron Man reappears around a corner, coming toward them from behind a building. The space whale follows, roaring in anger.

“I... I don't see how that's a party,” Romanov says, sounding bland.

Stark swoops down and the whale follows, shattering asphalt as its stomach drags on the ground. Banner looks behind himself and begins to walk towards the monster.

“Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry,” Steve says, worried.

“Here. I’ll pinch you,” Bucky offers, grinning at Banner.

Banner laughs humorlessly. “No need. That's my secret: I'm always angry.”

Banner turns and starts to grow as green spreads over his body. Growling, the Hulk slams one giant green fist into the whale’s boney nose. The whale starts to flip over, threatening to crush them, but Stark, in mid-flight, extends his arm out and fires a small rocket. Steve grabs Peggy and Bucky and shields them as it goes off, sending fire and smoldering metal over the area. Bucky sees Barton and Romanov duck behind a car just in time.

From the portal more chitauri and space whales fly out, ready for battle. The group of heroes stand at attention as they watch from the ground.

“Guys,” Romanov says in a warning tone.

“Call it, Cap.”

Steve turns to the group. “Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're focusing on containment. Barton, Bucky, I want you up high, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or turn it to ash.”

“Give us a lift, tin man?” Bucky asks, snapping the long rifle onto his back and offering his arm.

Stark grabs Barton around the waist and Bucky’s arm. ”Right. Better clench up Skywalker.”

Stark blasts off with the two snipers in toe. Wind whooshes by until Stark sets Bucky down roughly, then zooms to the other building and deposits the archer. Bucky gives the other man a high thumbs up and Barton returns it.

Steve continues. “Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up.” Thor wooshes to his position.

Steve points to the people left over. “You, Peggy, and me, we stay on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk?” Steve pauses, going for a simple, “Smash.”

A whirlwind of activity makes Bucky kind of zone out of a while, shooting down stray crafts, checking up on the others (ie: Steve and Peggy), and generally keeping an eye on things.

“Stark,” Barton pipes up suddenly. “You got a lot of strays sticking to your tail.”

“Just trying to keep them off the streets,” Tony says, trying to hide desperation.

Bucky squints in his direction. “Well, they’re shit at sharp turns.”

 **“** I will roger that,” Stark says and proceeds to lead the angry chitari into several different walls with varying sized explosions. “Nice call. What else you got?”

“Well, Thor's taking on a squadron down on 6th,” Barton replies. Bucky glances over. Oh yeah, he is.

“And he didn't invite me?” Stark says, like they owed it to him to inform him of his so called ‘parties’.

Bucky chuckles and goes back to shooting. He finds the comfortable rhythm he had at war, the thrill of intense focus, the burn of the mix between adrenalin and fear, the cold feeling his eyes get from being open too long.

“Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal,” Romanov says, panting slightly.

“Our biggest guns couldn't touch it,” Steve says, knowing that targeting it was useless at this point.

“Well, maybe it's not about guns.”

“You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride,” Steve cautions.

“I got a ride. I could use a lift though.”

“Steve, what are you doing?” Bucky asks nervously.

“Are you sure about this?” Steve asks Romanov.

“Yeah. It's gonna be fun.”

A minutes silence and suddenly Romanov wooshes by on the back of one of the chitauri ships, speeding down the road and cursing as she tries to figure out the control.

“What the hell,” Bucky says. He looks at the swarm of chitauri, humming toward him like a swarm of angry bees. If they got to him, he’d be evaporated or crushed when the building started crumbling.

“Hey, uh, Hulk!” He says, watching the goliath turn to face him from the streets. He clips the gun on his back. “Catch!” He shouts loudly, just as energy beams start breaking the roof he was standing on.

He jumps, hopes, and closes his eyes.

And falls.

And falls.

And falls.

And has the wind knocked out of his as he slams into a giant warm hand. He gasps in pain. He’ll be feeling that tomorrow, that’s for sure.

Hulk drops him unceremoniously on the ground. “Arm Man, safe,” Hulk grumbles, jumping away to smash.

“Yeah,” Bucky says, looking up at the trashed building and giggling hysterically. “Thanks.”

“James,” Peggy rushes toward him. “Bloody hell, James. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Fine, thanks doll.” He wheezes as she helps him to his feet, still looking around for potential threats. “Still a lotta guys out there.”

“We’ll beat them,” she says cooly. “Together.”

Bucky grins. “I like the way you think.”

“Hate to break the moment guys, but the bank on 42nd past Madison, they caught a lot of civilians there,” Barton puts in.

“I’m on it,” Bucky and Steve say at the same time.

“We’re both on it,” Bucky clarifies.

He presses a wet kiss to Peggy's cheek and runs off, boots slamming against broken concrete and flying off the ground when he jumps over rubble.

Steve manages to time an explosion from a car just right to launch himself through the second window as Bucky gets to the building.

“You dumb Irish bastard!” He shouts. “You never fucking wait for backup!”

He bursts through the door and rolls into the crowd of terrified civilians. He fires off shots at the chitauri guarding the door and the dozens of civilians shriek in fear as blue blood splatters against the shattered wood. Three of the aliens fight Steve as Bucky directs the civilians out. Seeing its disadvantage, one turns and starts the countdown on a bomb that’s about the size of a grenade. It throws it down into the crowd just as Steve punches it in the face.

Bucky catches it and whips it up to the the second story. “STEVE GET YOUR DUMB ASS OUT OF THERE!”

**BEEP.**

“Everyone! Clear out!” Steve bellows as he takes down the alien sneaking up on him, making the crowd leave faster than Bucky had.

“Oh sure, listen to the man dressed in the American flag, not the person wearing an actual uniform!” Bucky snarks.

Steve flips a chitauri soldier down the center and kicks the second in a spinning twist. The bomb starts beeping faster.

“Steve! Go! Get out of here!” Bucky says frantically.

 **Click** . _Vooorrrppp_ . **BOOM**.

A flash of chaotic blue, burning light, terrified screaming. Bucky rushes after the civilians, really hoping he had _actually_ seen Steve get blasted out of the building instead of vaporized in it.

His prayers are answered, luckily enough.

He rushes over to the crumpled car and gently helps Steve off of it. Steve looks around vaguely, glancing around in confusion and grimacing in pain. His cowl is torn off, his face smeared with dirt and dust, with a track of blood from his hairline to his jaw.

“Jesus, Stevie, you scared the hell outta me,” Bucky cups the side of his neck to get Steve's attention.

Steve blinks at him. “What?” He says loudly. Steve pats his ears. “I can’t hear much. Must be the blast!”

The civilians look over at them as they’re lead away to safer areas.

“You. Fucking. Dumbass!” Bucky says slowly, loudly, and angrily. Steve winces, clearly knowing what Bucky is trying to get across.

“Can’t say I’m sorry, Buck.”

Bucky sighs and looks up at the passing ships. They’re still getting overwhelmed and a few ships are heading straight for them. Bucky grabs the shield off Steve's arm and hurls it at them, watching the shield bounce between the chitauri, knocking them off their crafts. The shield shoots back to them and Bucky catches it again.

“Nat, what are you doing?” Barton says suddenly.

“Uh... a little help!”

A pause. “I've got him.”

Bucky looks up as a ship suddenly explodes near the half-wrecked Stark Tower, Hulk jumping up after it. Bucky swears and starts leading Steve toward Stark Tower.

Minutes later Barton’s perch is attacked. Bucky is very relieved to see Barton use a grappling hook and bust into a window safely.

“How’s your hearing?” Bucky asks Steve.

“Back,” Steve replies shortly.

Thor crashes down next to them and throws his hammer against a row of incoming chitauri. Bucky bursts into action, starting to fire at the oncoming invaders as Steve begins launching his shield. Bucky’s lungs are already burning from the smoke and dust, but it’s nothing compared to the bolt that slams into his chest. Pain bursts over his front and he falls back, skidding a good two feet at the impact, gasping at the burn and lack of air in his chest. His skin feels like it's smoking at the very least.

“Bucky!” Steve exclaims in horror, dropping to his knees as lightning flashes around them, taking out the surrounding aliens.

“Fuck, that burns!” Bucky grits his teeth, flexing his hand.

“It doesn’t look like it went through the armor. Can you stand?”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute.” Bucky sucks in one long breath and lets it out. He twists to his feet and grabs his gun again.

“You ready for another bout?” Thor asks him.

“Could do this all fucking day,” Bucky grins against the pain.

“What? You gettin' sleepy?” Steve teases.

“Hey!” Romanov says. “I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!”

“Do it!” Steve says back. Why on earth shouldn’t she? They’re getting their asses whooped down here.

“No, wait!” Stark says.

“Stark, these things are still coming!” Steve says, gesturing up to the portal aggressively.

“I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.”

“WHO THE FUCK ORDERS A NUKE TO A POPULATED AREA?! NAZIS, THAT'S WHO, SO WHAT THE FUCK-” Bucky exclaims.

Iron Man zooms overhead with the missile on his back. He accelerates quickly toward his tower, arching up and flying straight up towards the portal.

“Stark, you know that's a one-way trip,” Steve says.

Stark doesn’t answer and the group watches quietly as the suit zips up the side of the tower and straight into the portal, like a stone dropped into a pond.

The aliens growl aggressively, coming toward the group slowly, like predators stalking prey - only to short out and drop like sacks of potatoes as the missile goes off with an orange glow.

Steve’s eyes don’t leave the portal, “Come on, you son of a bitch, come on!” Peggy joins them, Barton at her side. She’s cut and bruised, her uniform singed and torn, but looks fine otherwise.

Steve and Bucky see the supernova coming towards them. Knowing they can’t risk civilian lives, Steve swallows and says very clearly, “Close it.”

The beam powering the portal swirls away and the portal contracts, smaller and smaller until it’s just about shut. A small metal figure falls through just as it vanishes from view.

“Thank fucking God,” Steve breathes.

“He isn’t slowing down,” Thor says warningly, spinning his hammer to gain momentum.

Hulk suddenly launches from out of view and catches the form in his arms, smashing into the building to their left and sliding down in order to slow their descent. Hulk jumps off, landing on his back before dumping the still metal figure next to him and getting to his feet.

Steve rushes over and rips the face plate off the helmet. Stark is still and pale, his eyes closed as if he were asleep.

“Fuck, is he breathing?” Bucky asks. “The light is dark. Isn’t that keepin’ him alive?”

Steve leans down, listening for any signs of life. “Not breathing,” he reports hollowly. Peggy puts a hand on his shoulder.

Hulk doesn’t understand why Stark isn’t moving and, frustrated, he roars at the still form.

Stark sucks in a gasping breath and looks around wildly. “What just happened?! Please tell me nobody kissed me.”

Steve laughs in relief. “We won.”

Stark stares at him incomprehensibly. Then he sighs, relaxing totally while closing his eyes. His head clinks back on the cracked asphalt, and Bucky totally gets it.

“Alright, yay! Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow,” he groans, trying to shift in his suit. “Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma?” Stark points at the trio of super soldiers hovering over him. “There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it.”

Bucky huffs a laugh. “Dunno about you, but I’m actually in the mood for a burger. Several. Maybe a dozen.”

“That’s good too,” Stark admits. “Fuck, I’m thirsty. And tired.”

“We’re not finished yet,” Thor says, glancing up to the tower.

“We’ll I’m done. You assholes do that,” Bucky says, stepping back and sitting down against a nearby car. He makes grabby hands at Steve and Peggy. “After battle ‘we-all-survived’ cuddles,” he demands. Steve slides into his left and puts his arm over his shoulder, hand under his armpit, dragging him closer. Bucky finds himself half-slumped over Steve's lap.

Peggy gets Steve's other side, and hugs his arm close to her chest, leaning on him.

Bucky, utterly spent, closes his eyes and passes out.


	12. Chapter 12

After their nap, the trio meet up with Stark and the others for food, catching them as they walk to a restaurant that is, amazingly, still open.

“Burgers?” Bucky asks Stark excitedly.

“Some of the best,” Stark confirms.

The group of eight squeeze in and shove a few tables together as frantic cooks scurry around and take orders, only too happy to serve the people who saved them from certain destruction.

After the eight consume almost all the food and soda in the restaurant, a lull breaks out. Bucky feels sated and full, leaning against Steve, still slightly tired from the invasion. He blinks up from his food to see Peggy with her feet in Steve's lap chomping on her sixth burger. Steve  had fallen asleep at some point during the meal, head propped up by one hand as he leaned over the table. Bucky thinks he had eaten maybe eight or nine burgers, but can’t quite remember.

Stark is looking off into space, clearly still shocked from coming back from the brink of death. Banner just looks bland and easy going. Thor is still chowing down and the SHIELD agents seem to have appropriated each other’s chairs during the course of the meal.

“Not that this all wasn’t fun, but let's never do this again,” Bucky says good naturedly.

“Seconded,” Peggy agrees.

“Thirded,” Banner comments.

“Fourthed,” Stark says, snapping out his daze.

“Fifthed,” Barton and Romanov say at the same time.

Barton hastily corrects himself at her glare. “Sixthed.”

“Majority rules,” Bucky says, nodding seriously. He cracks a grin as Peggy leans over and flicks his nose.

“How did-” Stark says suddenly, making a flapping motion at them, “-that happen? I can’t be the only person who’s wondering. And how did you hide it in the ‘40s?”

Banner shrugs. “I’m curious, but you don’t have to share.”

“Me too,” Romanov says, eyes narrowed. “None of the reports ever indicated Barnes was with Rogers, though lots of speculation surrounded Rogers and Carter.”

Bucky makes a half-assed motion. “It just kinda happened. Steve and I weren’t fitting together as well as we had before the war, arguing more. We were dancing around the attraction Steve and I had with Peggy and then she just straight up came over to where we were arguing over it and kissed me. I while I was damn well surprised by that, she turned and made out with Steve, too. Hottest thing I think I’ve even seen.”

“And quite enjoyable, too,” Peggy nods. “Darling, pass me my drink.”

Bucky did so easily, leaning over Steve in order to pass the sweet tea.

“Hiding was easy, clearly. The media hung onto the sweet story of _Peggy Carter and her captain_ like a leech. The last thing on their mind was the man they kept in their tent with them,” Peggy explains. “And I’m in charge anyways.”

“You got it doll.”

“Another thing. Did you really kill a man with your arm?” Banner asks skeptically. “Or were you trying to get at Loki?

“Yeah, I did. Did you… not believe that?” Bucky asks, genuinely confused. “It was that or die. I mean…” he floundered. “They had guns, I was defenseless, I had a half-frozen arm. So I just reacted before they could kill me and drag my body away.” He doesn’t mention that he still has nightmares of the cold sickly flesh in his hands, the coldness slowly creeping up his arm… The jerking awake when the metal of the train snaps away...“I did what I had to do to get back home,” he finished after a short pause.

Banner blinks at him. “Huh.”

“So… Anyway, what are your plans for after this shit show?” Bucky asks the group, eager to get the focus off him.

Thor says he is taking his brother back home. Banner flounders for a second until Stark offers him a room at the Tower and a partnership as lab bros. The spies are headed back to SHIELD. ‘Team America’, as Tony dubs them, simply plans to walk back to their apartment and hope it wasn’t destroyed during the initial attack.

“Look,” Stark says sympathetically, “Why don’t we all crash in my tower for the night, at least? It’s just a bit damaged. JARVIS says the structure and everything is sound and working. It’s literally just down the street, guys.”

Bucky looks over Steve at Peggy. “Just for the night,” he says, an offer.

Peggy nods. “Alright. I’m exhausted and it’s a fair plan.”

* * *

“Shower first,” Bucky demands, stepping into the room Stark offered them. “Bed next.”

“Seconded,” Steve sighs, leaning against the wall. “I have grit digging into my ass.”

Bucky gives him a cheeky grin and slips into the bathroom. The smile drops off his face, replaced by utter awe. “Holy shit.”

The bathroom is huge, bigger than the one at the SHIELD base even. It’s beautifully crafted with a large walk-in shower at the end. Bucky is sure he could fit six or seven people in it. That’s not even focusing on the clean tiling and elegant countertop and stainless steel sink.

He gets out of the uniform so fast he thinks it might have just teleported off of him. The water is easy to work and deliciously hot. He groans when the spray soaks him. The pressure is amazing and soon enough Peggy gently pushes him out of the way, greedily stealing the water from him, Steve then physically picking her up and putting her aside to get under the stream of water.

Bucky can’t help but laugh at them through the hot steam.

* * *

Bucky wakes up in the middle of the night with his bones aching and sweating like a pig from the masses of heat around him. The vague feeling of cold and dark nightmares was quickly being chased away by the heat and slick sweat on his skin.

Steve hums quietly in his sleep and settles down even more, moving his head ever so slightly to bury his nose in Bucky's hair. Bucky sighs while shifting his arm under the pillow so his hand is open to fresh air, all the tense feelings and doubts draining out of him with that breath. Perfect.


	13. Chapter 13

The next day Bucky, and the rest of the Avenging crew make their way to the helicarrier to visit a friend in the hospital.

Coulson gives them a goofy drugged-up grin and mutters something about stars  _ and _ stripes. Steve Bucky and Peggy sign the cards that Tony had cleaned of blood with some special chemical solution and show them to a loopy Coulson.

He fucking beams with unbridled joy. Staring with happy awe, he hold the cards up like they’re precious gemstones. Bucky ruffles Coulson’s hair and calls him ‘kid’ a few times, just for fun.

* * *

Their house was partially destroyed in the invasion, and currently uninhabitable. However, SHIELD does find a permanent living situation for the trip. An apartment in DC near their newest building, the Triskelion, and the group didn’t have any real reason to stay until…

“I can probably make you a new arm.”

Bucky does a full on spit take and nearly drops his glass of water. He coughs several times to try to clear the water that went down the wrong tube and turns to glare at the man who scared the shit out of him. “Warn a guy!?” he says in a meaningful manner.

“Sorry, thought you were a little more chill,” Tony apologizes.

“What part about ‘ _ beat a man to death with my arm _ ,’ did you not understand?”

“Yikes, okay, no chill then. Anyway, the arm?”

Bucky pauses, thinking carefully. “You could really get me a new one?” He asks slowly.

“Probably. Need to do a few tests, and if they got good results, it would be very invasive. But the arm could be removable, think something along the lines of Legos.” Tony tries to explain. Badly. “If you wanted it detachable, that is. It’d be easier to maintain that way too.”

Bucky frowns, his brows furrowing in confusion. “What the hell are Legos?”

“Oh my God.”

* * *

The next week is dedicated to helping clean up the wreckage left from the invasion.

It’s grueling, exhausting, and emotionally draining, but each member of the team sticks around to help out. Of course, Thor left a few days earlier to take his brother home, but he’s the exception. Bruce helps out the EMTs where he can, Romanov and Barton help out rescue crews of all types, Steve and Peggy go about the heavy lifting, Stark helps with urgent and emergency construction, and Bucky does a whole bunch of things. 

He helps out with some heavy lifting, he works a bit with construction crews, he passes out fresh water and food, he stops a few would-be thieves who try to take advantage of the fact that some stores are burst wide open, and generally just does his part.

* * *

When Tony says that they all have to attend a press conference about the invasion and the Avengers team, Bucky sighs for a long time.

“I ain’t good on camera. Steve is, and Peggy can bullshit her way through anything, but I will call people out on any shit I spot without a second thought.”

“You’ll be great then, we’ll be best buds.” Tony gives a mischievous grin and Bucky laughs.

* * *

After all the initial,  _ “Is the person responsible for this devastating invasion in custody? _ ” and  _ “What exactly is the Avengers Initiative?’  _ or _ “What is being done to help victims of this tragedy?”  _ comes the questions focused on the people sitting at the elongated table.

_ “So are you the real Captain America or someone who’s just taken up the mantle?” _

“Oh, Stevie's the real deal. You’re looking at the genuine article, straight outta World War II,” Bucky responds for Steve.

Then the reporters get fucking  _ excited _ . Questions start flying and Peggy, sitting on the right side of Steve, sighs heavily. Bucky, on his left, rolls his eyes. Here they go...

“One at a time, please,” Steve says, giving that media smile that makes people coo at him.

_ “Captain Rogers, how does it feel to be in the 21st century?” _

“Pretty great, actually, after the whole culture shock thing,” Steve replies.

_ “Is it safe to assume that those two are Miss Carter and Sergeant Barnes?” _

“ _ Agent _ Carter, and yes. After the crash in the arctic we were all kept in a type of suspended animation because of the serum we all carry variations of. We were revived about half a year ago,” Steve responds, feeding the media what they want.

_ “Agent Carter, how do you feel about the feminist movements going on right now?” _

“Ecstatic. America and the rest of the world has come leaps and bounds since our time. I’m happy to say Steve, James, and I all proudly wear the title of feminist,” she smiles at the crowd.

_ “And what about the gay rights movements?” _

Steve beams, “Pretty great, because it allows me to do  _ this _ in public.”

Steve leans over to Bucky and turns his head to press a quick, but firm kiss to his lips, drawing back and grinning before pressing another kiss to Peggy’s lips. A torrent of chaos erupts around them like a volcano of frantic reporters.

“Captain Rogers! Are you gay?” Someone pipes up. 

Bucky rolls his eyes. Steve kissed Peggy too.

“Not quite. I guess you could say I love  _ all  _ of America.” Steve grins. “I’m pansexual. And I’m dating Peggy  _ and _ Bucky.”

“And James and I are bisexual. Stars  _ and _ stripes, if you will,” Peggy cuts in.

The media frenzy after that bomb is at least three times bigger than the first.

“AND IT FUCKING SUCKS THAT WE CAN’T GET MARRIED!” Bucky calls over the roar of voices.

* * *

There is some backlash, but nothing they can’t handle or laugh over. They've been through so much someone that at this point telling them that they are a disgrace is just amusing. A woman telling Steve to give up the shield is hilarious, especially when he shrugs and hands it to Peggy, saying it is in better hands now.

When an old man calls Steve a greedy bastard, Bucky picks Steve up and slings him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, saying that  _ he _ is the greedy bastard because Steve is his, dammit, and stating  _ very _ firmly that Steve belongs to only him and Peggy before walking away. It ends up on the internet and Tony cackles relentlessly until he cries.

And when, not even three days later, the same thing happens with Peggy and Steve, Peggy hoists Steve over her shoulder and flipps off the camera.

“This is mine. I’m not being greedy if I’m claiming what’s mine.”

It becomes a vine and then a gif.

Tony gleefully watches them again and again, commenting on Steve's brilliant pleased smile and how awesome it is that he has a girlfriend that can pick him up like that.

And then it becomes a  _ meme _ . Slinging your lover over your shoulder and saying that they are yours becomes a  _ thing people do _ .

* * *

About a week after the great clean up, some magazine manages to get a picture of them out on an ice cream date. This isn’t the problem, it is the fact that Bucky is sitting on Steve’s shoulders with a vanilla cone, sweet sunglasses, and a stupid red umbrella hat. Peggy, in an awesome matching red dress, just rolls her eyes when the reporters come up and continues to lick at her chocolate cone.

The quote they get out of Bucky, as a response to the fact that his actions seem immature, is “Does it look like a give a damn? Because I can confirm that the amount of damns I give is equal to the number of fingers I have on my left hand. ZERO.”

* * *

“This is my iced Americano, and my iced tea,” Bucky says proudly, pointing to Steve and Peggy respectively.

Peggy looks horrified. “Who drinks tea with ice in it?!”

“But what does that make you?” Steve asks Bucky, amused.

Bucky frowns. “Well, shit. Uh... Snow-ldier? That’s pretty bad though.”

“Frozen Account. Because you go by Buck, like money.”

“That’s worse,” Peggy says.

* * *

After everything settles down and the Avengers get a breather from the frantic media, the subject of the artificial arm comes up again. Bruce ends up being the one to explain it to Bucky instead of Tony, as apparently Tony had gotten excited and had already started working with a whole bunch of medical professionals on the idea and design. Bruce says the arm will connect to his nervous system, and, for ease of clearance and maintenance, will attach to a sort of joint built into what’s left of his arm and shoulder. That way, if it got damaged somehow, they could take it off instead of putting him under and fixing it then.

When he questions the reason he’d need to be put under, Bruce repeats that it would be connected to his nervous system, meaning it would hurt if something shorts or if they have to pull anything out of it.

Bucky thinks that makes sense, and after mulling it over for a while discusses it with Steve and Peggy.

Peggy and Steve are unsure, but tell him they support him in whatever he wants to do.

Thinking about how he had been stuck dangling in the air on the helicarrier and how much easier it would be with the arm made his decision. He feels a flash of guilt for all the other people who are missing limbs and didn’t have access to that kind of technology, but Tony assures him that his company puts out thousands of models of prosthetics for people like him. Each leg or arm or hand is carefully designed and works better than most models. In fact, the readings they would get from Bucky while making the arm would further the prosthetic world.

“And anyway, you saved the world, like, twice. You can treat yourself to an arm, trust me on this one,” Tony says, with a look that conveys his comment about being guilty is absurd.

Plus, he could beat someone to death with a metal arm just as well as a frozen one, if it came to it.

* * *

“You ever wonder what would have happened if I had actually died in the fall?”

Bucky’s squished between Peggy and Steve again, but this time he’s on his back, looking up at the ceiling, two sets of hair tickling his chin.

“Not particularly.” Steve says, squeezing a little tighter. “I’m just happy you’re here with us.”

“But here’s the thing” Bucky starts thoughtfully. “If I had died, you two would've tried to, I dunno, avenge me by destroying HYDRA. Right? So you probably would have ended back up on that ship anyway. But Peggy needed me to help her up into the ship after you were already inside. So, if I was dead, you would be alone in the Valkyrie. Assuming  _ that _ , you probably would defeat Schmitt and crash the plane. You would have been frozen, same ol’, same ol’, and defrosted again, but alone. How terrible would that be? I mean, really. I’m dead, you’re assumed to be dead, who the fuck knows what both our deaths would do to Peggy, and you might wake up in the 21st century without anybody.”

“You’ve put some thought into this,” Peggy comments, playing with the rings on his necklace.

“I put thought into everything, I’m a smart man.”

“You followed me into war,” Steve points out. “You lost an arm.”

“I never said I was a reasonable man, just a smart one.”

* * *

Steve and Peggy are ordered to move out to DC without him and it’s the worst three weeks of his life. He has to stay behind for medical tests and arm measurements and exams and things Bucky doesn’t even know the meaning of. He meets with specialists, and specialists of specialists and easily excitable doctors for the longest time.

It's awful because he keeps waking up from nightmares in a cold bed that’s too big. It’s lonely because he keeps turning to ask Steve for something or wonder what Peggy is cooking for lunch. It's frustrating because he calls and Skypes with them each day, but it just make them feel like they’re out of reach.

He really misses them and this separation pisses the fuck out of him.

However, after those three weeks, they have everything set. After going over it one more time, telling him he’ll have an arm he can put on with metal connectors in his arm socket and an arm made out of titanium, he gets ready for surgery.


	14. Chapter 14

Bucky wakes up confused and light headed. The lights are too bright and his shoulder and back aches and he knows Steve and Peggy aren’t next to him because he’s chilly and feeling a bit frustrated.

He opens his eyes again and glares around the room. He’s really glaring, kind of hoping this confusion will go away if he glares hard enough at his surroundings. He feels like he’s been hit over the head.

“Bucky? Whats with the stank face you go going on there?” Someone asks. Bucky looks over to see a goatee fill his vision. He glances up at Tony.

“Whass?” He slurs. Tony hastens to help him drink some water. After his mouth feels less dry and gross, Bucky frowns and shakes his head slightly to try and clear the cotton balls from his head. “Fuzzy,” he says.

“Yeah, that's the drugs. You need a higher dose because of super-soldier serum stuff.”

“Ugh,” Bucky wrinkles his nose. “No.”

“No?” Tony sounds fucking amused and that frustrates Bucky for some reason.

“ _ Nooo _ ,” he groans, feeling miserable. He sort of rolls onto his right side to face Tony and squishes his face in the pillow.

“Yeah, well, you don’t need any drugs anymore, so the fuzz will go away, don’t worry,” Tony says, patting his head.

“Nnn.”

Tony chuckles. “Hey, how do you feel about company?”

“Bu’se?  _ Noo _ .” Tony isn’t even what he wants, never mind the other scientist.

Tony flips the tablet that Bucky didn’t notice and points it towards him. Steve and Peggy's faces fill the screen, grinning when Bucky beams at them.

“Hiiii!” Bucky says, he can’t wipe the smile off his face.

“Hey Buck, how you feeling?” Steve asks.

“Weird. Brain. Soooo, weird.”

Peggy giggles at his words. “I believe it.”

“You’re so preeetty, Peg,” Bucky sighs happily. “‘M sooo lucky ‘cuz you’re both bootiful.” She turns and buries her face in Steve's shoulder, embarrassed. “Noo, wanna seee youuu!” Bucky says sadly.

She turns back, barely managing not to laugh. Bucky smiles again. “I’m sooo lucky. Luckiest ever. Miss yooou. Soooo muchh.”

“Aw, we miss you too Buck. Don’t worry, you’ll be here with us soon enough, alright sweetheart?” Steve smiles at him kindly.

“Oookkay, Steeve.” Bucky frowns looking up at Tony. “Arm?” There was a reason his shoulder hurt, it was something about arms...

“All the equipment needed is in your shoulder and back. As soon as you aren’t drugged out of your mind we’ll put it on.”

“Oh.” Bucky frowns. “Toooonnnnyyy.” There was something about that name that was fascinating. “Yer a ball of math.” That’ll show ‘em.

Tony laughs hard enough to fall over in his chair. After his giggles die off Bucky says bye to his lovers, has an exchange of I love yous, and passes out. 

* * *

Next time Bucky wakes up he is lucid, amazingly. Lucid enough to be properly embarrassed. His head still feels a bit fuzzy, but it’s less like cotton balls and more like just waking up after a nap.

“Ugh,” he groans, sitting up on the hospital bed. He blinks around the room and sighs. Bracing himself, he looks over a his shoulder and stares.

The connection wasn’t as bad as he would have thought, but it’s still metal in his shoulder. It actually looks a lot like a real shoulder, only with metal plates and obvious metal latches that must snap onto the arm.

In a word: neat. 

In two words:  _ very strange _ . 

Bucky brings his other hand around and traces the metal plates. He shivers. He can  _ feel  _ that. Sure, it’s like he’s wearing a glove over his whole arm, shoulder included, but the sensation is there. He taps it with his fingertips, feeling the drumming sensation through the metal.

Tony opens the door and steps in the room, a case in hand and a grin on his face. “How’s my favorite invention doing?”

“Uh, good. I think,” Bucky replies, looking at the box. “Is that the arm?”

“Sure is, Buckaroo.” Tony sits in the chair by the bedside and sets the long black case on his knees, opening the latches with ease. It opened to show an artfully crafted silver arm, perfect and ready to be used. Tony carefully lifts it out of the protective foam and displays it like a true showman. It looks exactly like his right arm.

“Aluminum base and coating, the plates move with how you move, automatically adjusting for any movement. All the wiring and coding is flawless and suited exactly to you. Here, let me show you how to put it on.”

Tony sets the case on the floor and brings up the arm. “The latches here are to basically tell your arm to come online, so when you first put it into place, like so,” Tony slides the arm into place. Bucky hears a faint whir and click, “Nothing will happen, but as soon as you snap these suckers in,” He does so for all three. “You have full movement!” 

Bucky looks down at the still arm. “Okay. Okay, so now what?”

“Well, obviously, you haven't used that, um, arm, in a while because it was gone. So it may take a little time to relearn how to move this one,” Tony explains. “Just mess around with it until you get some movement and we go from there.”

Bucky nods and tries to move his shoulder. Might as well start with what he knows for certain works. He rolls his shoulder a few times and tries to stretch the (muscles?) in his new arm. He can see the plates react to that, but no other real movement.

“Wanna try automatic reactions? Like, I throw something at you and you try to catch it before it hits you in the face. A knee jerk reaction, if you will.”

“Uh, sure.”

Tony grabs a tennis ball out of his bag and shows it to Bucky. “Here, catch.” He tosses it over and Bucky tries to move the arm, but the ball just ends up hitting him in the chest. He scowls down at it.

“Nevermind, fuck the tennis ball.”

Tony laughs. “Can’t expect to automatically figure it out, super-soldier or not.” 

It takes them another two or three tries to move the arm. The ball is about to hit Bucky in the face, actually hit him in the face, when he just…

Reaches up and catches it.

He blinks at the hand for a minute and Tony whoops in excitement.

* * *

The next few days are dedicated to fine motor control and generally getting used to having an arm again.

To be honest, Bucky is a little put off. It doesn’t have the same  _ give _ a regular arm dsoe. He can’t play with his fingernails, or really poke at his skin and watch it do the fleshy thing his real arm does. If he plays with his fingers, it is just like playing with a thin metal rod with hinges. Sure, it moves just like a real arm, but other than that, it’s completely robotic. Almost alien. It takes a while to get used to that, and even then he gets surprised sometimes.

Besides that, he becomes super clumsy, the weight diffrence fucking up his center of gravity. He falls over a lot, more than he’d like to admit. This new change prompts cursing colorfully and sometimes needing a hand up.

Tony teaches him how to perform basic fixes, keep it clean, use it with his other arm, and some basic fighting motions.

The doctors involved are proud of their success and already using the data that the arm acquired to good use in the field of prosthetics. Tony is proud of his invention, and Bruce is just happy to help. Tony tells him to keep contact and send in little messages about the status of the arm. He also calls Bucky ‘Terminator’ several times, but Bucky can’t make any sense of that.

Then a bit of reality sets in. Because he has metal embedded in him, there is no way he can fly commercial. Knowing this, Tony offers to fly him to DC in his jet.

It ends up being a high class super fancy jet with all sorts of awesome comforts. It is definitely a step up from ‘Helicarrier’ or crashing a ship into ice.

When they land Tony offers him a cab to drive him home. Thankful, Bucky accepts. He still isn’t 100% with the arm and he only drove one armed in a stolen Nazi car last time because he had to. That was incredibly dangerous and he’s actually  _ very _ surprised he didn’t crash. 

Besides, the ride gives him time to look out the window and wonder how Steve and Peggy set up their house.

Probably similar to their last one, he reasons, but due to house planning differences, it is probably a little different too.

He wiggles his fingers in his left glove. He has to hide it to avoid questions, but it doesn’t move very well when covered. Sometimes fabric got caught in the metal plates and he had to help it out.

When the cab pulls in front of a nice building some time late at night, Bucky hops out. The driver says Tony had paid for his fare already, so he leaves pretty quickly.

Bucky goes up the front steps and through the front door. Steve said theirs was apartment three, so he climbs up the stairs and looks for that special number. After finding the door, he knocks and waits.

Steve throws it open and beams like it’s Christmas and his birthday all at once. Peggy pops over his shoulder and smiles happily.

“Bucky!” 

“James!” They exclaim and he gets dragged inside.

* * *

They make it to the bed before they make the tour.

Both Peggy and Steve like the new arm, but they like him even more.

* * *

“Morning runs? Like, waking up and then running?” Bucky asks the next morning, confused and burrowed in warm blankets, blinking up at Peggy and Steve as they dress in sports-wear. “We run?”

“Yeah, I mean…” Steve shrugs, pulling a shirt over his head. Bucky instantly misses the sight of that muscular stomach. A sculpture like that should never be covered. “It's nice out here, lots of space, good sights, exercise.”

“How long you been at this?”

“About a week into our stay. Haven’t figured out a gym thing yet.”

“Huh,” Bucky says. “Well I’m chilling at home today, but you two  _ morning-people _ enjoy your run.”

Peggy dips down and gives him a kiss, Steve following her example after. “Be back later, be sure to eat some food. You probably need it after last night.”

“You got it, sweetheart,” Bucky grins.

“Keep hydrated!” Steve calls, half down the hall and making a quick waving motion with one hand as he puts in an earbud with the other.

“Love you too!” Bucky shouts back. He wriggles back into the bed and smiles goofily to himself. He wraps the blanket around him and takes a deep breath. The blankets smell like Steve and Peggy. He hums slightly and smiles fondly.

After another ten or fifteen minutes of sleep he gets up and starts exploring. This apartment is much bigger and decorated to suit the three. Lots of books, comfortable furniture, a well stocked kitchen with two refrigerators, an entire closet for the collective uniforms of the trio and their day-clothing, and a sound set up that really flowed well.

Bucky thinks it’s great. It really does feel like he’s home. It’s been awhile since a place he lived felt like home rather than who he was with.

He eats a big bowl of cereal and a pear before he takes a shower. It’s better if the arm doesn’t get wet, but the connector in his shoulder is 100% waterproof, courtesy of Tony’s foresight.

Freshly clean, dressed in Peggy’s shirt and his own pants, he glances around the house and says, “Ready to start the day.”

* * *

SHIELD sends them on missions, sometimes in new and improved stealth suits.  Steve’s is just a darker shade of blue, but much less noticeable, even with the star on the middle of his chest. Peggy has an awesome set of black ops gear, and Bucky has this pretty nice black get up with neat bullet proof goggles and enough weapons hidden in it to take out a small army. It also leaves his metal arm with maximum maneuverability.

They go out, usually all together, and stop terrorists, or thefts of dangerous items, or reclaim captured American ships, or stop drug smuggling.

SHIELD tries to send them on separate missions once or twice, but generally thinks they do better as a team.

They go about their business for eight months that way.

When they go home it’s usually late in the day and they almost make it to the bedroom, but sometimes just collapse in a tangle of limbs on the couch. And each morning, they go on a run. It is decided quickly that they do not run together well, they argue and talk and try to pinch each other’s asses too much. So, they run separate and meet up when they finish.

Bucky reluctantly admits that the run is usually nice, but morning cuddling is good, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter starts the the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MY BRILLIANT EDITOR IS BACK MANY KISSES TO NARUTOROX  
> are you getting PUMPED UP FOR WINTER SOLDIER SHIT????

Steve has a long week working on SHIELD assignments and collapses as soon as he gets home. Peggy and Bucky get him washed, fed, and in bed by eleven, snuggling up to the unconscious supersoldier. After waking up in the morning, Peggy and Bucky talk and figure another hour of sleep can’t hurt Steve.

They leave to go on their morning run before Steve wakes up, simply sticking a note to the sleeping blonde’s forehead and going off to run. Hopefully they’d meet him around the Washington Memorial, as usual. If not, the plan is to go get Starbucks and wait for the other man to show up, as the note specified.

That day Bucky leaves the arm home. He usually doesn’t wear it outside because it feels odd, and he has to wear long sleeves even in the summer. Plus, it’s possible someone related to their missions would recognize the arm and try to attack him in the open.

After about an hour of running, lungs burning perfectly and legs vibrating with energy, Bucky sees Steve again. He is talking to a sweaty black man who looks as though he had been run to death.

Steve had the habit of forgetting other people had limits.

Bucky slows to a cautious walk so he can hear their conversation.

“-I guess I got a late start.”

“Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap. Did you just take it? I assume you just took it.”

Steve grins. “What unit you with?”

“58th Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA,” the guy replies. Bucky narrows his eyes. What is happening here? 

“Sam Wilson,” the man introduces.

“Steve Rogers.”

“I kind of put that together,” Sam says wryly. “Must have freaked you guys out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing.”

“It took some getting used to,” Steve agrees. By this point Bucky is pretty close to his boy, so he does what any self respecting American would. He pinches Steve's ass and listens to Steve’s surprised yelp with glee.

“There you are, sweetheart! Thought we’d have to meet you at the coffee shop after we finished.” Bucky gives his best shit eating grin.

Steve tilts his head, giving him a look. “And whose fault is that?”

“You deserved the extra hour of sleep. Plus, Peggy insisted, and you know what happens when you argue with Peggy.”

“What?” A voice behind them says. Bucky glances over his shoulder. Peggy is taking out her earbuds and raising one eyebrow questioningly. Bucky takes the moment to remember she’s a goddamn ninja and badass as hell.

“Nothing,” Bucky replies innocently. “If you don’t count the time you slammed Steve into the Helicarrier floor.”

Peggy smiles dangerously, looking drop dead gorgeous in a sweaty shirt and running shorts. “I don’t take threats lightly, darling. I tell you not to talk about something, I mean it.”

Sam huffs a laugh. “Yeah, well, any time any of you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know.”

“We'll keep it in mind,” Bucky offers.

“How’s the bed? I came back from my tour and it just felt like-” Sam starts conversationally.

“Lyin’ on a marshmellow,” Steve finishes, smiling. “Well, if you have someone's foot wedged under your ass, a knee against your spine, an elbow under your neck, and have your arm fall asleep under the weight of a super-soldier, it’s just like being back out there.” 

Sam laughs.

Peggy’s phone buzzes and she pulls it out of her sports bra. Sam looks a little shocked at that. “Natasha is coming to get us.”

“But Steve just got back,” Bucky complains, ignoring Sam's surprised expression for the moment.

“Us,” she repeats. 

A black car pulls up alongside them and the window rolls down. “Hey, fellas. Any of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a couple of fossils.” Natasha smiles, obviously pleased with her constant old people jokes.

“You’re hilarious,” Steve says, tone as dry as the desert.

“And you are mistaken, I am clearly a precious artifact,” Peggy quips, pointing with one hand and putting the other on her waist. She opens the door and slides into the passenger seat, and starts chatting with Natasha.

Bucky looks back at Sam. “Can't run everywhere,” he deadpans.

“No,” he agrees, grinning. “You can't.”

* * *

“Did you do anything fun Saturday night?”

“Actually, yeah,” Bucky says, putting an arm around Steve's shoulders. “Watched the the Star Wars prequels.” Bucky had no idea why Nat kept trying to set them up on dates, considering, ya know, they were practically married. 

She makes a face. “The  _ prequels _ ?”

* * *

_ Five minutes later: _

“Steve, what the shit,” Bucky hisses into the comm, looking down as a figure starts swimming strongly through dark water. “USE A FUCKING PARACHUTE.” If Steve doesn’t stop jumping out of airplanes without it, Bucky is going to start physically stuffing Steve into them.

“You can’t tell me what to do, you're not my Peggy.” Steve blows a raspberry over the comms, like a child.

“Darling, use a parachute or you sleep on the couch for a week,” Peggy says smoothly, threat clear even in her sweetest voice.

Bucky shudders. That sounds awful. Not enough room, no body warmth, so reassurance that, yes, Steve and Peggy are still breathing...

“Yes, dear,” Steve mutters.

“Cut the chatter,” Natasha says, though everyone can hear the amusement in her voice.

* * *

Bucky punches a man in the face with his metal fist. “ _ Get off my lawn _ ,” he says lowly.

Steve laughs quietly over the comms.

There’s a crack from Steve’s end, alerting Bucky to the fact that Steve just kicked someone in the face. “ _ Oh, jiminy. My hip!” _

Bucky snorts.

A few whumps and a yelp. _ “Has anyone seen my walker?” _ Peggy asks dryly.

Steve cackles. Then gunfire from his end.  _ “Where’s my word jumbles? _ ” Steve asks with a ridiculous old man voice. Bucky snickers as he begins his descent into the ship.

_ “Cut the chatter,” _ Nat says sharply.

Rumlow grumbles something as well.

They do manage to get five minutes of silence, but then Steve speaks up again.  _ “Young whippersnappers don’t know nothing about respect for the elderly. We used to walk uphill both ways in the snow to fight villains in our day and at least they didn’t shoot on sight. I miss the good ol’ days when the bad guys gave those damn monologues. _ ”

Bucky doesn't fall down the stairs, but it’s a close call.

* * *

“ _ On va voir _ ,” Steve says cheerfully, shucking off his helmet like the dumb punk he is.

Bucky watches his boy fight the man who challenged him in hand to hand casually, Peggy sliding up next to him and rolling her eyes in annoyance. Bucky has the brief idea of her leaning against the railing with him, popping some gum like it was lunch hour, but he knows that’s not what's about to happen.

“Men, we have places to be,” she reminds them, shifting her weight to one leg and crossing her arms.

How she manages to get black ops gear to look sexy is beyond Bucky, but he’s glad.

Steve punches the man in the face and turns to her, ducking a roundhouse kick and sighing. “But-!”

“Now, Steven.”

Bucky wolf whistles at Steve as he delivers a spinning kick to the guy’s face. The man attempts to get up, does so, and Steve tackles him into the door, breaking it open like it was drywall.

Since Steve’s dealing with that, Bucky turns to Peggy. “Where are we supposed to be again?”

“Hostiles, because Romanoff wasn’t in position. Follow me, I have a plan to deal with the rest of the pirates.”

Bucky nods and darts after her.

* * *

“IF YOU GET MY HUSBAND KILLED, I KILL YOU,” Bucky says loudly to Natasha ten minutes later, ripping off his goggles and glaring. There’s something about  _ explosions _ near Steve that makes Bucky want to commit homicide. Especially to those directly involved.

“He’s fine. Just a little singed,” she offers. Nat pushes Steve toward them as the super soldier gives Bucky and Peggy an uneasy smile.

Something is up. Not much makes Steve upset. Peggy glances at Bucky and he nods once sharply.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for mentions of Infertility!

“Those hostages could have died, Nick,” Steve says, voice cold and sharp, like an icicle.

Bucky shifts uneasily behind Steve, hovering over his shoulder. He glances around the glass and metal office, the cold weight of the air conditioning resting gently over him and the silence of the office making each and every syllable uttered sound crystal clear.

“I sent the greatest soldiers in history to make sure  _ that didn't happen _ ,” Fury returns.

“Soldiers trust each other,” Steve grinds out. “That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns.” Peggy nods and Bucky glares at Fury, crossing his arms. He is really happy he can do that again. Intimidation factor,  _ fun _ .

“Last time I trusted someone,  _ I lost an eye _ .” Fury stands up, aggravated by the points Steve is making. “Look, I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything.”

Bucky thinks that last bit makes sense, but still, having two missions going on at once is asking for something to go wrong. People can get hurt if someone isn’t in position. 

“I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own,” Steve reasons, speaking Bucky’s thoughts out loud.

“It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all.”

“Except you,” Steve agrees, staring Fury down.

“You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that.” Fury waves the group over to the elevator. Once everyone is on board Nick says, “INSIGHT bay.”

“( _ Captain Rogers), (Sergeant Barnes), and (Agent Carter) do not have clearance for Project INSIGHT. _ ” The elevator responds, making Bucky and Peggy glance up reflexively. The voice is feminine and it puts him off. He’s so used to hearing JARVIS reply to things that hearing anything else is mind-boggling.

“Director override. Fury, Nicholas J.,” Fury says.

_ “Confirmed. _ ” The elevator starts moving down silently. To be honest, everytime he gets on this thing it gets on his nerves, years of hearing loud clanking and shitty tunes making the silence almost eerie.

“You know, they used to play music,” Bucky says offhandedly.

“Yeah,” Fury nods, “My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years.” 

Oh good, story time. Bucky listens carefully, whatever Fury is showing them is probably related to what he’s about to say, at least a little bit. 

Fury continues. “Granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say, ‘ _ Hi.’ _ People would say, _ ‘Hi’ _ back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say, ‘ _ Hi _ .’ They'd say, ‘ _ Keep on steppin _ ’”. Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter.”

“Did he ever get mugged?” Steve asks curiously.

“Every week some punk would say, ‘ _ What's in the bag?’ _ ” Fury nods.

“What would he do?” Peggy asks.

“He'd show them,” Fury replies honestly. “Bunch of crumpled ones, and a  _ loaded .22 Magnum _ .” At Steve's surprised look he chuckles and adds, “Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much.” 

They finally reach whatever the ‘INSIGHT Bay’ is, and Bucky’s jaw drops. Peggy sucks in a quick breath and Fury grins at them. “Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22.”

They exit the elevator and walk out to a platform that oversees the construction zone of three gigantic helicarriers, all weaponized and towering over the three soldiers. “This is Project INSIGHT. Three next-generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites launched from the Lemurian Star. Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight,” Fury explains. “Courtesy of our new repulsor engines.”

“Stark’s designs?” Peggy asks, recognizing the last words.

“He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines.” Fury agrees. “These new long-range precision guns can eliminate one thousand hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We're gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen.”

“Thought the punishment usually came after the crime,” Steve says pointedly, glancing at Fury. Bucky has a brief flashback of pre-serum Steve just fucking  _ waiting _ for someone to pull something, and then flying at them, guns blazing.

“We can't afford to wait that long,” Fury replies, snapping Bucky out of his thoughts.

“Wait, wait, wait. Who's ‘ _ we _ ’?” Bucky asks, suspicious.

“After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve.” He sounds proud, like a parent whose kid finally learned their times tables.

“By holding a gun to everyone on Earth and calling it protection,” Steve says, giving a fake smile. His voice is ice, void of any real emotion.

That must hit a sore spot. “You know, I read those SSR files. ‘ _ Greatest Generation _ ’? You guys did some nasty stuff,” Fury points out.

“Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free. This isn't freedom. This is fear.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap.”

“Don't hold your breath,” Steve says, motioning for the others to follow him back to the elevator. Steve presses the button hard enough that it cracks and crosses his arms as he leans against the railing.

Peggy glances at Bucky then jerks her head at Steve.

“Hey, you know what we haven’t done yet?” Bucky tries, needing to get Steve out of this foul mood. “Visit our exhibit at the Smithsonian.”

* * *

(“Thats your ‘disguise’? That’s a shitty ass disguise Steven. Wear an American Flag buck ass nude, why don’tcha?”)

* * *

“ _ Welcome to the Smithsonian. Visitor information booths are available on the second level, _ ” the intercom says throughout the museum. The trio walk up to the second level and leisurely stroll through their exhibit.

“ _ A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery and sacrifice. Denied enlistment due to poor health, Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first Super Soldier. _ ”

“Second,” Steve corrects the voice-over, bumping Peggy lightly as she smiles.

“I think they mean something other than spy, which was what I was. Plus, my serum was the basis of yours, it’s not as sophisticated. And it had the… side effect, and some other differences.” She puts a hand over her lower stomach. Bucky nods softly. An unforeseen consequence of the prototype was that Peggy was infertile. Something about hormones and that version of serum’s effect on reproductive organs.

“ _ In this rare footage, everyone's favorite war hero, Captain America… _ ” The voice trails off as they enter a different room. “ _...Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission: taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division. _ ” The trio sit on one of the benches and watch the old film, nostalgia flickering in their hearts.

* * *

“ _ Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to be near-fatally wounded in service of his country. _ ”

Bucky glances around and spots a kid staring at him. The girl is maybe seven and wearing a Stark Industries prosthetic arm. It’s her right, unlike Bucky, but she's still giving him this look of pure and utter awe.

Bucky grins and presses a finger to his lips. She nods quickly and smiles back, rushing off somewhere else.

Bucky turns back to look up at the picture of him and his side exhibit. 

He pauses, frowning. “Is that…” he looks over to the glass exhibit of what has to be either the bones of his severed arm or a model. He reads the description.  _...3-D printing of the scans of James Barnes’ arm _ . “It is!” Bucky says to Steve. “They fucking used my arm as an exhibit!”

It was actually encouraging kids to compare their hands to the innocent looking bone. The arm was splintered and frayed on one end, but the rest of the bones looked pretty good.

“I don’t even know whether to be horrified or amused,” Bucky continues. He feels ice at his back, a throb in his shoulder, and he winces, bringing up a hand to rub the aching sensation away. He distantly remembers the rolling of his stomach and icy flesh in his hand.

“Let’s check out Peggy’s exhibit,” Steve says, leading him away.


	17. Chapter 17

The next day Bucky and Steve go to the VA. The plan is to help Sam ‘look good’ in front of the receptionist, but when they catch the last few minutes of Sam with his group, something tugs inside of Bucky.

He feels awkward, first of all, standing just outside the room instead of in. He can see people missing limbs just like him, sharing the story of fear and blood and sand. The first two he knows intimately, but his own horror story is filled with cold and white.

He shivers slightly, feeling the snow down the back of his shirt and the ice slowing the blood pumping from his arm.

When the group gets out and Sam finally notices the two soldiers, they are both a bit in the dumps.

“Look who it is, the running man.” Sam grins at Steve

“Caught the last few minutes. It's pretty intense,” Steve comments, glancing back at the door.

“Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret...” Sam lists absently, staring into space a little before snapping back. 

Steve glances once at Bucky's missing arm. Sam notices and his gaze flickers between them.

“You lose someone?” Bucky asks.

“My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before. Until an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch.”

“Sorry,” Bucky says, realizing that his question probably stirred up painful memories for Sam.

Sam nods the apology off. “After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?”

“But you're happy now, back in the world?” Steve asks, sounding hopeful.

“The number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell yeah. Are you thinking about getting out?”

“Kinda.” Steve looks at Bucky. “I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did.”

“Ultimate fighting?” Bucky smirks as Sam chuckles. Steve rolls his eyes. “Just a great idea off the top of my head. Seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?”

“Bucky, Pegs,” Steve scratches his head. “Don’t know exactly. Art? Not exactly the same thing.”

* * *

They meet Peggy back at the apartment for a date night and go out to their favorite pizza place, consuming three entire pies.

When they get back to their apartment their neighbor, Sharon or something, mentions that they left their radio on.

They act like it was Bucky's mistake, citing that he’s forgetful and teasing him as he complains about feeling ‘so attacked right now’, but as soon as they’re inside they go on mission mode. Steve grabs his shield, which is resting peacefully alongside the wall, and he makes a small ‘keep-back’ motion.

They don’t have a radio. The music is coming from the record-player. Steve peeks around the corner and draws back, sighing.

“Fury, what are you doing here? I don't remember giving you a key.” Bucky and Peggy go around the corner and give the director an unimpressed look.

“You really think I'd need one?” The figure in the shadows replies. “My wife kicked me out,” he says simply.

“I didn't know you were married,” Steve says stiffly. 

“A lot of things you don't know about me.”

“I know, Nick. That's the problem.” Steve steps over to the lightswitch and flips it on. Bucky sucks in a breath when he sees Fury. He’s beaten up, bloody, bruised in places. He’s seen the fight of his life. Fury puts a hand up, stopping any questions. He clicks the lamp off and shows them his phone, the tiny screen bright in the darkness of the room.

_ Ears everywhere. _ “I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash.”  _ SHIELD compromised.  _ Bucky mentally flails. They bugged their apartment? SHIELD is compromised? 

The apartment no longer seems like home. It’s just a room where stuff is stored. Everything is flipped upside down. Nothing is safe anymore.

“That’s fine. I’ll get you a drink,” Bucky says, backing into the kitchen. He curses under his breath over and over.

“Who else knows about your wife?” Steve asks. Bucky glances back, electing to watch this conversation. Fury groans and gets to his feet slowly, stepping closer.

“Just… My friends.”  _ Just us four. _

“Is that what we are?” Steve asks wryly.

“That's up to you.” A bang and a crack rock the apartment and suddenly, with a cry, Fury is on the floor. Steve quickly drags Fury to safety and crouches down, glancing around the corner. Peggy grabs the gun she keeps in the bookshelf and glances through the window.

“Don't... trust a-anyone,” Fury manages roughly, pain obvious in his voice. He presses something into Steve's hand. 

Bucky is beyond freaking out at this point. 

“Captain Rogers?” The door bursts open and Sharon strides in, surveying the area before running over to Fury and checking his pulse. “I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service.” She answers the unspoken question. “I'm assigned to protect you.”

“On whose order?” Steve demands, keeping a cool head.

“His.” She nods at Fury. “Foxtrot is down,” she says into her comm. “He's unresponsive. I need EMTs.”

“Do we have a twenty on the shooter?” The tiny voice asks back.

“Tell them I'm in pursuit.” Peggy demands, grabbing Steve’s shield and watching something move from the other roof. “I’m going out the window.”

* * *

The hospital doesn’t save Fury. He dies on the operating table. Peggy doesn’t catch the assassin. The attacker has a getaway vehicle all ready to drive him to safety.

* * *

“I hid the flash drive in the hospital vending machine,” Steve says to Bucky quietly, faking the closeness as a kiss. “Head there. Hide it. Put it in your arm or something, just don’t let anyone else have it.” He fake smiles as he pulls away.

Bucky nods, “Don’t do anything stupid,” he says.

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.” Steve grins and walks off to go to talk to Pierce. Bucky hooks his arm in Peggy’s.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says quietly.

“Home?” Peggy whispers dubiously.

“No. Not safe. The hospital. Steve hid it there.”

She nods and smiles easily to a passing agent.


	18. Chapter 18

Peggy and Bucky make their way out easily, and are just walking through the lobby, the one with all the glass and the sculpture of the SHIELD logo, when the glass above them shatters and Steve drops down like a stone.

He lands hard, shield taking the brunt of the impact as a shower of glass rains down around him. Bucky gasps in surprise as Steve groans and sucks in quick breaths. Everybody stares at Steve in shock and confusion. 

Steve carefully and slowly rolls over, standing in a defensive position and urgently motioning at Bucky and Peggy. “We have to leave. Now!”

They fucking book it though the hall, heading for the garage.

* * *

Two motorcycles jump through the garage doors just as they snap closed with a  bang. Peggy revs her engine and nods at Bucky. Bucky repeats the motion, holding onto Steve by wrapping his arm around the other man’s stomach.

A quinjet zooms overhead and spins to face them, weapons clicking out and aiming for the three super-soldiers. Bucky shifts and wraps his legs around Steve’s torso, grabbing the Chitauri rifle from his back with his now free hand and placing it on Steve’s shoulder. He fingers the trigger absently, waiting for Steve’s word.

“Stand down, Captain Rogers. Stand down,” the intercoms command. 

Steve revs the engine and speeds up in defiance.

“Repeat, stand down.” Then the weapons fire, bullets working their way along the road to the two bikes and sending up puffs of dust and bits of rock.

“Now!” Steve commands and Bucky lets off two shots. One hits the weapons system clean off and the other vaporizes the left engine. The jet jerks erratically to the right and slams into the concrete, secondary weapons clicking out just a moment too late. At the angle of the landing it makes a perfect ramp to get over the spikes.

“Good job,” he says to Bucky.

“Thanks, Cap.” He clicks the weapon back onto his back and hangs on tight as Steve angles the bike to speed them up the ramp and to safety, Peggy following close behind.

* * *

They ditch the bikes and steal a mini-van on the way to the hospital. Peggy and Bucky wait in the car as Steve sneaks in to get the drive.

Peggy and Bucky start counting their rounds and cleaning their weapons as they wait.

Bucky clicks his arm on and wiggles the fingers. “Good to have this back, even momentarily.”

“Can’t have it on for long, darling. SHIELD will recognize it.”

“I know,” Bucky sighs. “Jesus, this is a shit show. The organization we’ve been working for for- for  _ a year _ is trying to kill us because something shady is going on! What the fuck happened!?” He throws the gun he was cleaning down and buries his face in his hands. The cold metal and flesh hand creates an opposite effect on either side.

Peggy climbs into the back with him and hugs him close. “We’ll figure it out. That’s what we do, darling. We always fix the problem.”

Bucky relaxes into her. Peggy always had a way with words. Bucky reluctantly lets go and goes back to his guns.

“Hey,” he says suddenly. “Is that Romanov?”

It is, she’s walking with Steve out of the hospital cool as can be. They’re clearly trying not to gain any attention. Steve gives a subtle thumbs up and gets in the driver’s side. Romanov slips in the back with Peggy and Bucky.

“What’s her story?” Bucky questions, suspicious.

“A line of assassins, Winter Soldiers,” Steve replies. “She thinks the latest got Fury. I trust her enough, with this,” Steve replies.

“Good enough for me. Where to?” Bucky asks, handing her the gun he was reloading.

Natasha takes the gun and holds up the flash drive, “We need to trace this.”

* * *

They go in the mall together posing as couples. Pretending to be straight couples gets them less attention, so Peggy goes with Bucky about five minutes after Steve vanishes with Natasha. Bucky has his arm on, but he’s hidden it with a jacket and a glove. Hopefully nobody would notice him if he kept one hand in his pocket.

Looking like a frat boy and a goth chick respectively, Bucky and Peggy follow Steve and Nat closely, but not close enough to be mistaken for a group.

They both head to the Apple store, and Bucky and Peggy pretend to look at the tablets while Steve and Nat trace the drive. Steve is dressed in black, and since black is not his color he’s basically invisible, especially with the hipster glasses he has pushed up his nose.

“The drive has a Level Six homing program, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are,” Nat says.

“How much time will we have?”

“About nine minutes from… now.” She plugs in the drive and taps at the laptop furiously. Bucky grimaces and glances at the time. “Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands,” she says, frustrated.

“Can you override it?”

“The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me. Slightly. I'm gonna try running a tracer. This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from.”

“Can I help you guys with anything?” One of the employees asks. He’s got long orange-gold hair and a great beard. Steve startles slightly.

Natasha smiles falsely at the man and hugs Steve from behind. “No. My fiance was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations,” she giggles, her voice pitched high and squeaky.

“Right. We're getting married.” Steve chuckles awkwardly, playing it off as happy embarrassment.

“Congratulations,” the employee says in excitement. “Where are you guys thinking about going?”

Steve and the guy both look at the computer. “New Jersey,” Steve replies.

Bucky shoots Steve a betrayed look. The fake getting married thing could slide, but no way in hell is  _ New Jersey _ an acceptable place to get married, not for a Brooklyn boy. Unforgivable. Blasphemy.

Bucky goes back to playing Angry Birds while Peggy examines the computer next to him.

“I have the exact same glasses,” the guy comments.

“Wow, you two are practically twins,” Natasha says dryly, not looking away from the computer.

“Yeah, I wish.  _ Specimen _ . If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron.”

“Thank you,” Steve offers. Aaron walks away, leaving the confused soldier in his wake. Steve turns back to Nat urgently whispering. “You said nine minutes. Come on.”

“Relax,” she suggests, tapping the keyboard a few more times. “Got it. You know it?” She shows him the screen.

“I used to. Let's go.” He nods at Bucky and Peggy and leaves with Nat. 

They wait a few moments, finishing their game, before following.

“Standard tac team,” Steve says quietly as Bucky and Peggy walk a few paces behind them, pretending not to know the other ‘couple’. “Two behind, two across, and two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, everyone else hit the south escalator to the metro.”

“Shut up and put your arm around me. Laugh at something I said,” Nat breathes out.

“What?” Steve asks in confusion.

“Do it,” Nat hisses.

Steve does, putting his arm around her and laughing awkwardly as Nat smiles. Bucky turns to Peggy and kisses her cheek sweetly, nuzzling her temple and grinning. Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable.

Once the two agents pass them without a second look, they make their way to the elevator.

However, as the pairs head up, Rumlow starts coming down the other side. They’re too close to get away and he’ll certainly notice them. Nat turns to Steve.

“Kiss me,” she demands. Bucky feels like he’s on fire. Yes, he is a possessive guy, but really. How dare she? Steve is his and Peggy’s only. Fuck everybody else.

“What?” Steve asks, honestly confused and a little horrified.

“Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable,” she elaborates.

“Yes, they do,” he says dryly.

Nat pulls him down and presses his lips to hers. Bucky narrows his eyes and hugs Peggy close, whispering in her ear as she smiles at him. “Next time we get Steve alone, we show him who he belongs to.” She fake-giggles and flushes as Bucky presses a wet kiss to her cheek, then lips. He can tell she’s thinking the same thing, even through this act.

They make it past Rumlow, who looks away and passes them without a backward glance.

“You still uncomfortable?” Nat asks slyly. 

“Yes. Very, very uncomfortable. I don’t have the words necessary to tell you how uncomfortable that made me,” Steve says. She fake-pouts. They make it out, take their stuff from their first car, and hot-wire another.

* * *

“Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?” Natasha asks.

“Nazi Germany,” Steve replied, paying more attention to the road then the rest of them.

“Yeah, and you’re a shit driver. You never fucking use your turn signals, you stop on a dime, and you almost crashed three times already,” Bucky snarks. 

Peggy hums in agreement. “I should drive the next time we stop. I’m  _ much _ better and at least I didn’t learn how drive in a war zone, Steven ‘Grenade’ Rogers.” Peggy gives a pointed look.

“And we're borrowing,” Steve says firmly. “Take your feet off the dash,” he orders Nat, who does so, not breaking eye contact as she raises one eyebrow.

“Can I have that story? ‘Grenade’ Rogers?”

“Well,” Bucky starts. “It all began the fateful day we had to get away from an exploding base in a car and Steve got in the driver's seat before any of us did…”


	19. Chapter 19

“So then, every time Steve wrapped a car around a tree or just generally wreaked a Jeep, we told Phillips a grenade took it out,” Bucky finishes. Nat snickers and pushes at Steve playfully.

“Hey, we’re here,” Steve says, stopping the car jarringly.

Frowning, Natasha looks down at her phone. “The file came from these coordinates,” she confirms uncertainly. 

“So did I,” Peggy and Steve say at the same time. They glance at each other.

“This is the camp I was trained at and where I first met Peggy,” Steve offers instead.

“Change much?” Nat asks curiously, peering through the dark abandoned area.

“A little. Pegs and I will check it out. We know it best. You two watch the car. We’ll be right back.”

“Aye aye, Cap.” Bucky gives a little lazy salute.

The two get out, taking a few guns and the shield with them. After the door slams shut, Bucky slips into the driver's seat and plays with the radio, turning it off just in case Steve shouts something at them.

When the two vanish into a misplaced munition shed, Bucky turns to Nat.

“You kiss my sweetheart again and I punch you in the jaw with my metal hand so hard each and every one of your teeth fall straight outta your mouth,” he says firmly, glaring.

“I thought you shared,” she says, and raises one eyebrow. He can tell she’s testing him, but that sneaky maneuver back at the mall pissed him off.

“I share with Peggy, Peggy shares with me, but Steve is ours. I get that it was a bit of a life or death situation, but if it happens again... well, you have your warning.”

“Duly noted,” she says easily, though he notices a trace of suspicion in her voice.

Bucky nods stiffly and goes back to keeping watch, carefully checking around their car for any sign of anyone. Luckily nobody knows their location yet, he thinks, but they should probably leave as soon as they can.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees a flash in the sky, and before he can even point it out, it’s speeding past them, straight for the camp. The missile slams into the shed, a fireball erupting like a volcano. Bucky instantly brings up his arm to block out the blinking yellow sunburst. 

The windshield shatters inward at the sudden change of temperature and the blast of pressure.

Nat seems so surprised that she doesn’t even move, eyes wide as she stares at fiery rubble. 

“Shit!’ Bucky exclaims fearfully, bursting out of the car door and heading toward the smoldering area. 

“Steve! Peggy?!” He shouts over the roaring flames. They can’t be dead, not now, not this way.

_ “Buck?! _ ” He hears, muffled but definitely there. Relief crashes over him and he runs toward the source. Bucky grab the edge of a slab of concrete to pull it off the pair. The shield was positioned protectively above them, likely the only thing that kept them alive during the explosion.

He helps Steve get Peggy out of the hole and slings her over his shoulder.

“We need to leave now. Get a new car and run.”

“Where?” He asks, jogging with Steve back to the car. Nat climbs into the driver's seat and starts the engine with a quick flick of the wrist.

“I have an idea,” Steve says instead.

“Fine. Who sent the missile?” Bucky asks, throwing the car door open and buckling the unconscious Peggy into the seat. He crawls in to sit on the second and gather their stuff in the bag.

“SHIELD. SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA. We can’t trust anybody but who’s in this car.”

“Fuck,” Bucky says as the car pulls away. No way in hell…. They’re back? “Fucking shit. Fuck!” He explodes, slamming his hand against the armrest and snapping it off.

“We’ll figure it out,” Steve says firmly. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Steve knocks on the door and waits, trying to wipe grime from his face absently. Bucky waits, shifting the bag to his other shoulder. Sam, the airman that Steve outran, answers the door an uncertain expression on his face..

“Hey,” Steve greets Sam breathlessly.

“Hey, man,” Sam replies uneasily, glancing at the dirty and bloody portion of the group.

“I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low,” Steve says.

“Everyone we know is tryin’ to kill us,” Bucky adds, putting his bag a little more up on his shoulder. His arm and the guns are in that bag and he’s keeping it as close as he can for now.

“And then some,” Natasha says with a grimace.

Sam sighs and ushers them in. “Not everyone.”

* * *

Steve and Peggy get washed up in Sam’s bathroom and dress in Sam’s clothes. They’re a bit tight on Steve, but fit Peggy just fine. When Steve steps out of the bathroom, still drying off his hair, he glances at Natasha. She’s staring unblinkingly at her hands, seemingly deep in thought.

“You okay?” Steve asks Natasha.

“Yeah,” she says hollowly.

“What's going on?” He asks instead.

Nat sighs. “When I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I don’t know if I can tell the difference anymore.”

Bucky is checking their weapons yet again. He feels like he’s missing something, so he just keeps cleaning them and counting their rounds over and over.

Peggy puts a hand on Nat’s shoulder. “You couldn’t have known, Natasha. None of us did.”

“And there's a chance you might be in the wrong business,” Steve smiles softly when Nat chuckles.

“Well, you seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing.”

“Well, guess I just like to know who I'm fighting,” Steve smiles dryly.

“I, on the other hand, am really fucking mad because I gave an arm for the SSR and now the SSR is HYDRA,” Bucky says. 

Sam pops into the room, glancing at the group of soldiers and spies. “I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing.”

“No, I eat nothing but steel and bullet cartridges,” Bucky says. “Of course we eat breakfast, what do you think we are? Robots?”

“Don’t mind him, he’s just upset,” Steve says, almost dismissively.

“I  _ am not _ fucking upset. I’m beyond upset. I’m livid. I’m about to rip my other arm off so I can beat Peirce with it. I swear to god,” Bucky seethes.

* * *

“So, the question is,” Bucky starts slowly, biting off a piece of bacon. Sam is a really good cook. “Who at S.H.I.E.L.D. has the means to launch a missile strike?”

“Pierce,” Nat says instantly.

“Who just so happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world,” Peggy points out rottenly, pressing an ice pack to her temple.

“But he's ain’t working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star,” Bucky says, pointing with his slice of toast.

“So was Sitwell,” Peggy says in realization.

“So how exactly do the four most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?” Steve finishes, smiling humorlessly.

A silence falls over the group as they mull this over. 

“The answer is, you don't,” Sam pipes up. He steps over and drops a file on the table.

“What's this?” Nat asks curiously, dragging it toward her.

“Call it a resume,” Sam replies.

“Is this Bakhmal? The Khalid Khan Dil mission, that was you? You didn't say he was a Pararescue,” Natasha says giddily, flipping through the pages and showing something to Steve. 

“Is this Riley?” Bucky asks, pulling the photo of the two from the file. It shows Sam and another man in uniform, grinning at each other.

“Yeah.”

“I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?” Nat asks in interest.

“No. These.” Sam pulls a photo out of the middle of the packet and puts it on top for Steve to see.

“I thought you said you were a pilot,” Steve says with a grin. Bucky wants to see already, what’s up with this cryptic bullshit?

“I never said pilot.” Sam replies, smirking.

Steve sobers. “I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason.” Bucky snatches the folder quickly and looks down at the sheet. He grins. 

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in,” Sam reasons. Bucky feels a rush of nostalgia. Sam’s firm words, his passion, all of that reminds Bucky of what Steve was like before they went to war. Sure, Steve was still just about the same now, but he’s learned about what war does to people, what his actions can cause.

Steve looks ready to protest, but Nat cuts in. “Where can we get our hands on one of these things?” 

“The last one is at Fort Meade… Behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall.” He’s done some research, Bucky notices. Has he ever considered taking them back? Reach to the sky again and just keep flying?

“Shouldn't be a problem,” Steve says. Bucky snaps the file closed and hands it over. “Let’s get ready.”

* * *

“Damn,” Sam says, watching Bucky put on his arm. He fixes the snaps and hears the tiny buzzing whirl come from it, signaling it’s power coming on.

“You like it? Courtesy of Stark industries after the Battle of Manhattan.” He waves his hand, flexing experimentally. The metal plates slide easily, with powerful fluidity.

“Some of the vets would kill for something like that,” Sam says.

Bucky winces. Sam must see that because his eyes widen. “But Stark Industries supplies a lot of benefits to vets and the prosthetics we get out here are really great,” Sam adds hastily.

Bucky smiles as Sam weakly. “Peggy always complains that the metal connectors dig into her back,” he jokes. 

“How well does it work?”

“Very. Movement wise. It feels like I’m wearing a glove over my real arm though.” Bucky bites his lip and glances around.

“It gives me a lot of phantom sensations,” he admits. “After I take it off. I swear, my arm is there, but I look over and just…” He shrugs.

Sam gives him a sympathetic look. “Come on, man, we gotta go kidnap a HYDRA agent.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who is the winter soldier? the BIG REVEAL

When a fearful Sitwell slides into the mini-van, Bucky smiles at him cruelly.

“Hey, Jasper, how ya doing?” he says, near gleefully.

“Where are you taking me?” Sitwell asks evenly. Sam climbs into the passenger seat and smirks, holding a fist out for Bucky to bump.

“For a ride, didn’t you hear?” Bucky grins and puts the pedal to the metal, startling a cry from the HYDRA agent.

* * *

“Tell me about Zola's algorithm,” Steve demands, pushing harshly at Sitwell. Bucky and Peggy are watching from the door, making sure no one interrupts.

“Never heard of it.” Sitwell yelps as Steve shoves him again, closer to the edge.

“What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?”

“I was throwing up. I get seasick.” Bucky is full on ready to punch Sitwell himself. This wiseass is keeping something from them, he just knows it.

“Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Because it's really not your style, Rogers,” Sitwell tries. And, well, Sitwell has them there. Bucky tries to imagine Steve throwing a man off the roof. It’s more like Peggy’s and his own actions. 

Bucky’s kicked an ass or two off a wall or building before.

Steve’s posture changes and he reaches out to smooth the jacket’s creases. “You're right,” he says, “It's not.”

Sitwell looks relieved.

Bucky likes what’s about to happen here.

Steve nods at Nat. “It's hers.”

Sitwell shouts in surprise as Natasha kicks him in the chest, and screams as he falls over the side.

After a short pause, Natasha snaps her fingers. “Wait. Have you guys seen any of, uh, shoot. What's the show? The um… one about mothers?” Natasha asks casually. Steve shoves his hands in his pockets and leans back a bit.

“‘ _ How I Met Your Mother’? _ We just started it. Not bad. Don’t know how I feel about Barney.” Steve shrugs just as Sam blasts over the side, Sitwell dangling from one hand. Sam drops his  package and lands gently, turning and closing the enormous mechanical wings of his suit like he’s done it thousands of times before. He probably has. Bucky can see pretty easily that Sam thinks it’s an extension of himself. That those are  _ his _ wings rather than just some neat jet-pack made by the military.

“Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing INSIGHT's targets,” Sitwell blurts.

“What targets?” Steve demands, grabbing Sitwells collar and shaking him slightly.

“You!” Sitwell exclaims, “A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school Valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in  _ the future _ .”

“In the future?” Steve asks, frowning. “How could it know?”

“How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future.”

“And what then?”

“Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me,” Sitwell realizes.

“What then?” Steve repeats the demand, gritting his teeth.

“Then the INSIGHT helicarriers scratch people off the list,” Sitwell replies, looking straight up at Steve. “A few million at a time.”

Bucky’s eyes widen in shock. A few  _ million _ people, dead at HYDRA’s command. Just like that, they could all be gone, leaving no hope for a safe, free future. 

He glances over at Peggy, noting that she’s mirroring his reaction. 

“Oh, fuck,” Bucky says, combing a hand through his hair. “Oh, fuck.”

“Quite,” Peggy says softly. She visibly gets ahold of herself. “Come along boys, we have a drive ahead of us and Natasha and I need to get some bigger guns.”

* * *

“HYDRA doesn't like leaks,” Sitwell says warningly. Bucky gives him an incredulous look.

“Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?” Sam quips from the passenger seat. Bucky is liking him more and more as they go on.

“INSIGHT is launching in sixteen hours. We're cutting it a little bit close here,” Peggy cautions, speeding up slightly, the engine revving at the action.

“I know. We'll use Sitwell to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly,” Steve reasons.

“What? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea,” Sitwell says.

Bucky grins. “Best tactical mind of our time and we’re using a shitty human shield.”

The car behind them speeds up suddenly, slamming into their bumper. Bucky lurches forward and jolts into mission mode. 

“Shit!” he growls as their attackers speed up, shoving their car forward at a brutal pace. There’s no way that’s an accident. This is an attack. He grabs his gun from under the seat and slams it into his side window, shattering it. Leaning out the window he sends exactly four shots at the other car’s windshield. It doesn’t break, doesn’t even crack.

“Motherfuck!” he swears, leaning back in the car as they open fire on him. “Get down!” he says. He hears a sharp noise and sees Sitwell slump forward out of the corner of his eye. Bucky grits his teeth. “Give me something bigger,” he mutters, looking through his weapons for something better, more powerful.

Something hits their rooftop heavily and Natasha springs into motion, pushing their heads away just in time to dodge the bullets that go through the roof into the headrests. 

“Not today,” Bucky hisses, clenching his metal fist. He hears a foot step and punches up through the metal of the car, grabbing onto the man’s ankle. The man tries to pull it away but finds himself stuck fast.

Bucky both hears and feels bullets pinging off the metal of his hand.

“Nat!” he orders, “Get this asshole!”

She nods swiftly and grabs a gun from the glove compartment. She smashes her window and looks out, firing twice. Whoever Bucky has in his hold shifts and dodges. He yanks his foot away and Peggy has the mind to slam on the brakes suddenly.

The guy goes flying, rolling with the impact easily. He’s skilled, Bucky will give him that, and pops right back up with his own gun. Bucky recognizes the fact that he’s aiming a grenade launcher at them and watches in detached horror as he fires at their tires. Bucky only has a moment to notice the red star on the man’s shoulder and that he’s wearing goggles and a face mask before …

“Brace for impact!” Steve shouts. 

The explosion rocks under them and sends the car flipping head over heels into the air. Bucky is hit with a wave of vertigo as the car spins and lands with a terrible crack on its wheels again.

Dust and smoke fills the car and a few people cough around it. It’s silent again, the engine of the car destroyed or damaged. 

“Everyone okay?” Steve demands, looking around the mini-van at the others.

“Ow, ow, ow, fuck!’ Bucky says, ripping the seat belt that was suddenly  _ way too tight _ over his chest.

Bucky looks at everyone as they move to unbuckle and says, “All good Cap, but Sitwell got hit at the beginning of the attack.” Bucky tosses everyone a pair of guns and slides out of the crumpled car, holding out a hand to help Peggy.

Steve nods and grabs his shield, busting his door open with a strong two legged kick.

“It’s him, the Winter Soldier,” Natasha says, pointing toward the figure with the mask as she steps out of the car. “Keep your eye on him, he’s the most dangerous.”

HYDRA agents pour out of the van that slammed into their own and join the Winter Soldier. With a small spread of orders the men approach, their weapons at the ready. Those who don’t have an impenetrable shield go out on the side of the car they aren’t approaching. 

The Winter Soldier lifts the grenade launcher again.

“Get back!” Steve shouts as the grenade slams into the shield and blasts him clean off the bridge in a blinding burst of fiery orange, straight into an oncoming bus under the bridge.

Bucky swears and grabs his rifle from the wreckage of the car. Peggy snatches the grappling equipment from her duffel bag and rushes toward the edge of the bridge, quickly sliding down to make sure Steve didn't die.

“Civilians threatened. I make an LZ, twenty-three hundred block at Virginia Avenue,” Romanov says.

Bucky nods and waves her away. He stands quickly and aims the space-gun, firing at the car to distract the HYDRA goons.

It bursts into flames after the third shot and Natasha darts over to the edge, going down the same way as Peggy.

This leaves Bucky with Sam and a good collection of guns.

“Glad to be back in the action yet?” Bucky grits out, ducking as the Winter Soldier abandons his launcher for an AK-47.

“Are you serious right now? Are you serious right now?!” Sam almost yells.

Bucky can’t help but laugh as Sam starts cursing at him, grabs a pair of guns, and drags his Falcon suit out of the crispy car.

The Soldier advances even closer. 

“We need to go, now.” Bucky rushes for the grappling line, but pauses to check for Sam.

**“** Go, I got this!” Sam insists.

Bucky nods and jumps down to find Steve covered in cuts and blood, sitting against the overturned bus as Peggy checks him for a concussion.

Civilians have since been evacuated by Nat, but a few stragglers are still rushing from the overturned bus.

Two HYDRA agents fall from the bridge as Sam swiftly disables them. The Winter Soldier isn’t having any of this and grabs Sam, tossing him over the side. Peggy rushes into action and catches Sam in two powerful arms before he hits the asphalt.

He blinks at her. “Hey there, airman,” Peggy huffs with a grin. Sam just blinks at her in surprise.

“You stole that from me!” Natasha says indignantly, and fires a few shots at the Winter Soldier. He falls back, but they can’t tell if he’s hit or not. Peggy sets Sam on his feet. 

They all freeze as more armored black vans screech to a stop to surround them on all sides. HYDRA agents pour out, aiming an arsenal of weapons at them.

The Winter Soldier drops from the highway and crushes a car underneath him, walking away like it is nothing. He heads toward them, and Bucky can see the shots Nat fires off hit something. His goggles are off, showing a pair of familiar eyes.

Bucky’s eyes widen. “Rumlow?!”

Rumlow tears off the rest of the mask and points the AK-47 at the group. “Drop the shield, Captain! On your knees! Now! Get down!”

Knowing they’re outnumbered, Steve drops the shield and slowly raises his hands, glaring all the while. The rest of the group reluctantly follow suit, dropping their weapons.

**“** Get on your knees! Down!”

“You killed Fury?” Bucky growls in angry disbelief. His blood feels like it’s burning in his veins and his heart is fast.

Rumlow storms over and kicks Steve’s leg, making his legs give out and fall to his knees.

**“** Don’t move,” Rumlow growls, putting his gun to the back of Steve’s head. Bucky feels icy fear and burning rage course through him and glares as the group of five are put on their knees with Steve.

“The arm,” Rumlow spits. “Off, or I kill him right now!” Bucky slowly undoes the latches for his arm and watches as it falls to the ground, useless again.

Rumlow looks at the news helicopter circling above them and scowls. He curses lowly.

“Not here. Not here!” he tells the other agents.

The men in uniforms don’t lower their guns, but they do cuff Steve and each and every person with two hands. For Bucky, they simply let him go inside the armored vehicle, a gun pointed right at him as a precaution.

When the van speeds off, Steve growls out, “It was Rumlow the whole time. Why didn’t I see it?!”

Peggy glares at the HYDRA agents. “We had no reason to believe we were working with  _ Neo-Nazis _ , Steve. This isn’t your fault.”

“We’ve been working with a HYDRA assassin for eight months,” Steve says hollowly. His lips quirk humorlessly. “And now he’s taking us around the corner to be shot.”

Bucky glances to the HYDRA soldier in the uniform that was a size too small and raises one eyebrow. They nod very subtly and Bucky looks to the other one, the man pointing a gun at him. His eyes flick back and the person shakes their head. He drops his head down slightly and quirks his lips. He taps Peggy’s ankle with his toe and nods subtly at the undercover agent. She smirks in acknowledgement.

“Damn shame,” he agrees with Steve’s comment.

The undercover agent flips out a taser with snapping precision and jams it into the other’s stomach, making him groan and jerk erratically before slumping to the floor.

“Thank God, that thing was squeezing my brain,” Maria Hill says, tugging the helmet off her head. She looks at the group of semi-confused spies and soldiers before staring at Sam.

“Who the hell is this?” She demands, exasperated.

Bucky laughs and Peggy swats him with her cuffed hands.


	21. Chapter 21

“We need to get them debriefed,” Coulson says when they step into the hidden base. Bucky smiles at the agent, very glad he isn’t HYDRA. Coulson is one of his favorites, after all.

“They’ll want to see him first,” Hill responds, and Coulson nods. Maria leads them through the base and into a medical ward.

From his bed, a decidedly not-dead Nicholas Fury glances at them through tired eyes. “About damn time.”

“You’re looking pretty good for a  _ dead man _ ,” Bucky says with a glare. 

“Excuse you, I am barely alive,” Fury replies blankly.

As the group gets settled around his bed, he lays back and starts listing his injuries. “I’ve got a lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache.”

“Don’t forget your collapsed lung,” a passing doctor adds.

“Oh, let’s not forget that,” Nick says, and rolls his eye. Then he shrugs. “Otherwise, I’m good.”

Nat looks disbelieving. “They cut you open, your heart stopped.”

“Tetrodotoxin B.,” Fury replies with a triumphant grimace. “Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn’t work so great for him, but we found a use for it.”

Steve looks confused, and does the cute scrunchy nose thing he does when he’s trying to figure out something. “Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?”

“Any attempt on the director’s life had to look successful,” Hill cuts in.

“Can’t kill you if you’re already dead,” Fury agrees. “Besides, I wasn’t sure who to trust. ”

Coulson slips into the room and drops a file and a small case into Fury’s lap. Fury nods his thanks and Coulson exits again. Peggy scoots over to Bucky and wraps her arm around his waist, pulling him close so he can lean against her. Steve shuffles over and puts his chin on Bucky’s shoulder, sighing.

Fury opens the file and scoffs. He holds up a photo of Peirce. ” This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, ‘Peace wasn’t an achievement, it was a responsibility.’ See, it’s stuff like this that gives me trust issues.”

Bucky snorts, and Nat says, “We have to stop the launch.”

Nick grins humorlessly. “I don’t think the Council’s accepting my calls anymore.” He clicks open the case and shows off three green computer chips.

“What’re those?” Bucky asks, leaning in to get a better view.

Hill starts explaining for Fury. “Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they’ll triangulate with INSIGHT satellites, becoming fully weaponized.”

“We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own,” Fury continues.

“One or two won’t cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die.”

“We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what’s left…”

“We’re not salvaging anything. We’re not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we’re taking down SHIELD,” Steve says, straightening slightly.

Nick looks disbelieving and angry. “SHIELD had nothing to do with it.”

“You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD’s been compromised, you’ve said so yourself. HYDRA was right under your nose and nobody noticed.”

Nick gestures around. “Why do you think we’re meeting in this cave?  _ I noticed _ .”

Steve gives him a sharp look. “And how many paid the price before you did? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes.”

Hill sighs in defeat. “He’s right.”

Fury glares and then slumps back slightly, accepting, even if it pains him a little. “Fine. SHIELD goes.” He glances around the room, his sharp gaze landing on Sam. “And where’d you pick this guy up?”

“We’re allowed to have friends outside of SHIELD, you know,” Bucky points out.

“Sharon is actually a very nice girl when she isn’t trying to flirt with Steve. Though now, knowing she’s SHIELD too, I don’t think she counts as someone on the outside,” Peggy says absently.

“You know what?” Bucky says. “Fuck DC. After this shit is over, we’re going back to Brooklyn and buying a shitty house and fixin’ it up so we can shout at kids to get off our lawn.”

Peggy snorts. “Sounds great, darling. We can get those Nerf guns you’ve been wanting as well.”

“Can we stay on topic?” Fury asks curiously, clearly exasperated.

* * *

“Okay,” Steve starts as they begin suiting up. “First plan is a distraction. We need to tell everyone loyal to SHIELD that they’ve been infiltrated and to try to stop the launch.”

“And after that?” Peggy asks, putting on her vest and checking her guns. Bucky clips on his arm and does a few tests.

“Well, chaos should break out and most of the HYDRA agents will be busy fighting. What we want to do in the midst of the fight is get the chips in place. Peggy, Sam and I will work on that. Sam has the flight and we have the means to take down anyone in our way. I want Bucky and Nat to go stop Pierce. If he’s there, Rumlow will be too. We can’t risk them getting in the way or launching early.”

“Got it, Cap,” Sam says, shrugging on his pack.

“Nat, you get Pierce, I find Rumlow. Deal?” Bucky asks.

“You got it. If we finish early, find the other?”

“Yeah.”

Peggy ties the laces of her boots and stands up. “Good-luck kiss,” she demands. 

Bucky smiles fondly and leans in, pecking her cheek. She kisses his forehead in return and nods. 

“Steve, get over here,” Bucky demands. 

Steve does and hugs him. “We’ll be fine, promise.” 

Bucky, worried out of his mind, kisses him, putting good luck right into his cheek. Steve turns and gets one from Peggy too. 

“You better be,” Bucky says. 


	22. Chapter 22

To be honest, Bucky doesn’t remember most of the beginning of the attack.

He gets a flash of a jaunty salute from Nat as she rushes off in her disguise, a clip of Steve’s rousing speech, a glimpse of Sam and Peggy in action, and the feeling of battle in his lungs and head, adrenaline pumping in his veins, but everything snaps crystal clear in one moment.

He runs past SHIELD and HYDRA agents looking for Rumlow. He swiftly disables those who try to stop him as he climbs the stairs to the next level. Each and every man and woman he passes is down on the ground, groaning in pain or quickly unconscious.

“Two chips down, one to go. Sam, you ready?” Steve asks through the comm.

“Sure thing Cap.” 

Bucky cautiously pushes open a new set of doors, glancing around. The floor is absolutely silent and Bucky is immediately on guard. This has to be it. Why else would the security level be abandoned?

He starts running, turning down the slightly curved hall. He freezes and time slows when he sees Rumlow in a classic sniper position, laying on the floor and looking through the scope of his rifle. Bucky is too late to stop him from firing off three shots, just blinking dumbly as he hears Sam shout in surprise. 

“Cap is hit! Repeat, Cap is down!” 

The words come with slow recognition, and when Bucky hears Steve’s pained moan, he sharpens.

Bucky feels fear and rage curl in his stomach and blinks as Rumlow turns his gun to aim at where only Peggy can be.

Bucky positively roars in fury, his veins on fire, vision narrowing, and is slamming into Rumlow before he knows he’s moved. 

He forgets exactly what happens after that, but he comes back to with one metal fist raised above his head and a smashed face staring back at him. It’s basically just meat and blood and chips of bone, with runny fluids and broken skin. The patch, the red star, on Rumlow’s shoulder has been torn off, and for whatever symbolic reason, appears to be soaked in the blood gushing from what’s left of Rumlow’s face.

Bucky blinks, feeling cold apathy and thick disgust. He tries to catalogue what’s happened from what he can see. There’s a knife stuck through Rumlows sternum, Bucky has cuts and bruises he didn’t have minutes earlier, and his arm hurts something awful. His metal one, that is.

He glances over to see a mess of broken shrapnel raised above his head. The fingers have been mostly torn off, the metal is a crushed piece of metal and wire, and blood coats the outside of the machine. It twitches randomly and isn’t quite responding to him.

He’s still got his trigger finger and thumb, he notes absently.

He looks around at the broken room with its splintered desks and shattered screens smeared with orange-red smudges of blood. Then he remembers how he got into this situation.

“Fuck. Steve. Is Steve alright?” Bucky asks urgently, glancing back at the carriers through the glass windows. They’ve risen in the time he’d blacked out, dangerously hovering above the water. Bucky has the strange thoughtthat they actually look beautiful, even knowing the destructive forces behind him.

“Buck? I’m oka-” Steve begins roughly.

“He’s taken two bullets,” Sam cuts in. “One went through his forearm into his chest, through the bone of his arm I think. Second went clean through his abdomen, non vital area, but it’s bleeding bad. The third grazed the side of his head something nasty, but that isn’t gonna be the one to kill him. He needs medevac STAT. What happened on your end? We just heard a lot of noise, gunshots and screaming.”

“Uh, Rumlow is dead,” Bucky says, dropping his stance and rolling off Rumlow’s body.

“Oh. Well, uh. That explains that. Shit, Steve, eyes open, dammit.”

“What about the other chip? Is that in place yet?” Bucky asks urgently, trying not to think about Steve bleeding out right now. Dammit, Steve promised he’d be okay!

“Carter jumped from the higher helicarrier to the lower one to get the chip in place. We’re almost done,” Sam reports. “I couldn’t fly her ‘cause I’m slowing Steve’s bleeding.”

“And Pierce?”

“Got him. Fury and I released all SHIELD’s files and secrets into the internet too. HYDRA is exposed,” Nat confirms.

Bucky breathes a sigh of relief. Just a moment of peace.

“Guys, you better pick up the pace. INSIGHT is going to be starting up and targets are going to be fired upon in under two minutes. Barnes, better get out of the building,” Hill’s voice interrupts .

“Confirmed,” Bucky says, and runs for the stair well.

“I’m almost there, I swear. Just, ah, shit, give me a minute,” Peggy says. Sounds of rough and dirty fighting, bones snapping, and a loud yelp of pain come through the comm.

“Peggy? What happened?” Bucky asks.

Peggy takes a minute to reply. “A bit of a run in. Nothing to worry about,” she lies, sounding breathless and with a wet voice. She spits noisily and groans.

“Liar, what happened?” Steve rasps.

“A knife in my back. It’s fine if I don’t touch it. I’m almost there.”

Bucky is immediately concerned. She’s got a knife in her back. How bad is it? Is she okay? Why did she try to skirt around the issue?

“You have a minute left. How soon is soon?” Hill asks.

“Forty five seconds,” Peggy reports.

“Good enough for me. Let's move it people!”

A few moments of silence. Bucky can only hear his own heavy breathing and the panic of the people around of him. His legs pump and arms swing as he sprints to the far end of the building.

“Locked and in place. Sam, what’s your status?” A few cheers come over the comm. 

“Getting Steve off the carrier,” Sam replies.

“Give me a ride?” Peggy asks.

“Can’t. Steve’s almost too heavy just by himself,” Sam says regretfully.

“Good thing I’m a strong swimmer then,” Peggy sighs mournfully. Glass cracks and Peggy groans. “Bollocks, that’s high.”

Bucky swears colorfully and gets to the door. “Oh, fuck.” It’s fucking  _ locked _ .

“What?” Fury asks.

“My level is bolted shut. Can’t get out the door,” Bucky reports.

“What about your arm? That thing rips doors off their hinges.”

“I don’t think you know what floor this is. Security and Observation. This is the most well defended floor there is. This door has a fucking dead-bolt seal. Besides, my arm is useless, got fucked in the fight. Shit, I think I need to go out a window,” Bucky huffs with a grimace, and starts forcing his arm to stick its elbow out.

“What floor are you on? I’ll swing around,” Fury says, the sounds of a helicopter coming over the comm.

“Uh, 41st, north-west corner,” he says, glancing through the window.

“Contact, carriers firing in three, two, one,” Hill announces. “Brace for impact!” 

The vibration shakes the air and rocks the building. The sounds of battle reach Bucky’s ears and he looks out the window to see the carriers firing at one another. Quickly, the two higher carriers destroy the lowers and it starts falling out of the air straight at the building he’s currently standing in. Destruction raining from the sky, just like in New York.

“Oh, shit.” Bucky curses, frantically looking out the window again for a helicopter. “Fury, where are you?”

“Give me a minute,”

“You got maybe ten seconds before I’m a smear under this rubble,” Bucky warns. 

“You think I don’t know how to fly a helicopter?” It swings lazily around the side and Bucky gets antsy as the building starts to crumble. Catching up to him easily, going through the building like a hot knife through butter.

“Here I go!” Bucky warns, putting his metal elbow first and charging the glass. It cracks around him and he’s in free fall…

Falling...

Falling.

Slamming into the floor of the helicopter.

“Ow! Fuck!” Bucky yelps, eyes snapping open. Nat grabs his arm and pulls him to his feet.

“Hey there, soldier,” she says, glancing at his shredded arm. “What the hell happened to  _ that _ ?”

“Dunno,” he admits, shaking it out. A bit of metal and wire fall to the floor with a clang. He blinks and looks up. “Where’s Peggy and Steve?”

“Sam’s gotten Steve to the EMT’s,” Nat replies, biting her lip. “Carter hasn’t shown up just yet.” 

Bucky spins to look out the side of the helicopter and squints his eyes to look for her form in the rolling waves of water. He points urgently, “There.”

Peggy is swimming like a champion, hard and fast through the waves made by falling pieces of ship, headed to the closest part of shore. Nat looks over his shoulder. “She’ll be at the water’s edge in about thirty seconds. Fury? Put us down over there.”

“Sure, Romanov, but I ain’t a taxi service.” The helicopter jerks as Fury changes course to avoid crashing into a long shard of metal wreckage. Bucky, still a bit shocked and now with forty percent less arm, falls over and curses.

* * *

Bucky jumps down and is running before the helicopter lands, rushing along the water’s edge all while keeping an eye out for Peggy. He spots a vague black form along the water edge and sucks in a breath, going impossibly faster.

When he reaches the collapsed form and sees the oozing blood from a deep stab wound that a knife is still sticking out of, his knees hit the ground. The wound is in her upper back, exactly when he puts his hand when he slides up to her to ask for his morning kiss. His hand pats Peggy’s cheek. 

“Pegs, Pegs, open your eyes, doll.” Tears prick his eyes and he reaches to feel for a pulse. It’s there, a bit weaker than what he usually finds when he gets caught listening to her heart beat, but it’s still steady enough. He glances down at the rest of her. He’s fairly sure one of her legs has something wrong with it.

She’s also covered in cuts and grime, just like him.

Looking back, he spots a group of EMT’s and waves them over urgently.

They crowd around and force Bucky to stand back as they get her onto a stretcher. He rushes after them and his chest tightens when he sees Steve being wheeled into an ambulance too. His front is a mess of blood and his shield was abandoned near where Sam is standing, worry etched across his face.

Seeing it so clearly left behind makes something pull at his heart. He must make a noise because Sam spins and blinks at him.

He tries to stop Bucky from moving toward the stretchers rolling side by side, but it’s a useless thing to attempt. Bucky pushes him away and is holding Steve’s hand tightly in his real one before he can even blink. The side of Steve’s face is matted in blood, making his hair stick to his face. His eye is a bit swollen and it probably has blood in it, too, from the long gash on the side of his scalp.

“Sweetheart, oh, Jesus,” Bucky gasps, tears bursting free. Steve’s face is still, his eyes closed, but at Bucky’s voice, one blue eye flutters semi-open.

“Buck,” Steve  _ whimpers _ .

“You’ll be fine, okay? I’m right here,” Bucky insists. He glances at Peggy, her ashen face so relaxed, and that makes Bucky's hair stand on end. “I can’t lose you, either of you. I’m with you till the end of the line, right pal?”

“Sir, you need to step away and let the professionals see to Agent Carter and Captain Rogers.” An EMT puts one hand against his chest and Bucky freezes, watching them load the two people he loves most into ambulances.

He’s unable to suppress the despaired whine that claws its way out of his throat. The EMT gives him a sympathetic look and goes to join the others. He feels a hand on his shoulder and looks over to see an exhausted and filthy Sam looking at him with a worried expression.

“They’ll be fine,” Sam insists. He hands Bucky the shield and something inside Bucky snaps. Bucky doesn't really process the words because his knees give out, making him drop to the ground and his hand shoot up to wipe away tears. His arms curl around the shield like it is a lifeline. Well, he wraps one around it, his other doesn’t respond. He starts wheezing, feeling like his chest is being squeezed.

“Shit,” Sam swears, dropping to his knees with Bucky. “Hey, hey, everything is okay. C’mon, up and at ‘em. I’ll drive you to the hospital myself. You’ll see your boy and girl safe and sound, promise.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i just really wanted a cameo of Peter Parker to show up, so maybe this chapter doesn't flow as nicely as he others. Anyway, i had fun, so i hope you like it too!

Pictures of the aftermath of SHIELD’s destruction are all the rage for a while, but people’s favorite seems to be Bucky alongside the stretchers with tears streaming down his face as he holds Steve's hand and looks at Peggy.

The second was the EMT keeping Bucky back and the third was him breaking down while Sam tried to snap him out of it, clutching to the shield.

People are fearful for their heros, demanding updates, confirmation of life, anything to feed the frenzy of media.

The hospital promises not to sneak anything to them, so it is mostly on Bucky to tell the world what happened. Or, more accurately, letting Sam release a few pictures to them.

The first is Bucky in the hospital room, Steve and Peggy still asleep and slathered in bandages and casts. Turns out, Peggy had a deep stab wound that punctured her lung and both legs were broken. The hospital thinks it was a combination of jumping from carrier to carrier and then plunging into the Potomac. The initial jump fractured them, hairlines, but her bones were strong enough to keep her up until the water splash-down. She was also a big bruise and had many cuts and scrapes that needed attention because she didn’t heal as fast as Steve.

Steve had a shattered radius, from the bullet, and a collapsed lung. They said the bullet that went through was an easy enough fix, but wanted to keep an eye out for infection. However, Steve had his ring on a necklace and the fragments from the metal caused some complications.

The cut on his head is bandaged and the white cloth circled his head a few times, red just dotting through, all blotty. It reminds Bucky of those Rorschach tests. It covers Steve’s eye, obscuring one of his beautiful baby blues.

The picture Sam takes are of him pacing and looking nervous, back to one arm because he’d staken off the mess of shrapnel hooked up to him and wrapped in a few bandages, Steve and Peggy only slightly blurry in the background. 

People are immediately appalled. The heroes they had seen save millions were stuck in the hospital with broken bones, bullet wounds, and their boyfriend worried out of his mind. 

Sam comments that because all of the information in SHIELD and HYDRA databanks was released, all the names of those who would have died were, too. He says most of those people had sent letter of thanks and tells Bucky to ask the nurses about it later. Gifts, too.

Bucky is too worried and exhausted to really ask questions.

The next time Sam releases a photo, both Steve and Peggy are awake, much to Bucky’s relief. There are tears, he admits, on both parties’ faces.

In the picture, a sleeping Peggy has an arm wrapped around a ‘Bucky Bear’, something Stark had sent over. It’s in Bucky’s WWII uniform and has an arm made of metal. Not real metal, but it’s stitched to look like it. On the shoulder of the arm is a blue star. 

He even sent over a matching arm for Bucky.

Stark’s note says that the HYDRA files named the person who killed the Winter Soldier the new one, so officially, Bucky is the new Winter Soldier. Tony had noted the logo and switched it to blue, citing that now the Winter Soldier was a good guy and the Soviet star wasn’t right for an American.

Anyway, the picture shows Bucky reading a note to a sleepy-looking Steve. Steve is smiling warmly as Bucky reads one of the millions of letters sent to the hospital from thankful people.

People they had saved.

Bucky was still feeling a rush of pride for that. They did it and they got out of it alive. HYDRA exposed to the public, the people he really cares about safe, if not unharmed, and Nat and Sam to make sure he eats and showers semi-regularly.

The response to the released photo calms the seething public, though they do seem to want an official announcement, preferably from one of the supers.

Nat sets an interview up so she isn’t swarmed by paparazzi and reporters every time she comes to visit.

She tells Bucky that Peter is a good kid and to trust her on this.

He’s skeptical, but with his enhancements and paranoia, he’s sure it’ll be fine.

* * *

Apparently he had  _ fallen asleep _ right before this Parker kid had come in. And the others had just left him like that, passed out and drooling into Peggy’s blanket, while this teenager stolled in and stared, wide eyed, at the mass of heroes.

Bucky ends up having to read the interview himself.

He opens the folded paper and clears his throat, squinting at the tiny text before glancing up at the photograph Parker had taken.

Peggy’s fingers are in his matted bed-head as she smiles for the camera, Steve glancing their way fondly.

Parker had taken a good picture. Artfully angled with perfect lighting, even in the white hospital room with its one glaring window.

‘ _ Walking into Captain America and Agent Carter’s hospital room was like entering a different realm, a world where to superheroes, getting seriously injured was a minor inconvenience.” _

Starts out good, Bucky thinks.

“ _ Captain America's finger shot to his lips and he nodded over at Sergeant Barnes, who was, for all intents and purposes, dead to the world, sleeping contently as Agent Carter's fingers ran through his hair. _

“ _ It was an intimate, peaceful moment, and for a second I felt like I was intruding. However, when Captain America waved me over to the chair at his bedside, he greeted me warmly and said ‘Thanks for coming.’ My first reply was ‘Thanks for saving my life.’ It’s true, I was one of millions who posed a threat to the Nazi criminal organization of HYDRA, which, until just last week, was thought to no longer exist. _

“ _ Captain America looked taken aback before smiling. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, word for word, “It was my honor.” _

“ _ His honor to serve this country, to nearly die twice defending America's citizens, his honor to save little measly reporter Peter Parker and all the other people who would have died at INSIGHT’s activation. _

“ _ Then  _ **_I_ ** _ was the one taken aback. _

“ _ That was a true hero before me, a man who thought it an honor to preserve freedom and keep people as safe as he could in the grand ol’ country of the United States of America. _

_ “Seeing my floundering, Captain America prompted me, he gave a slight grin and told me why ‘Bucky’ was passed out. He said that Sergeant Barnes was hovering over them at all hours of the day, making sure they were comfortable and ignoring his own needs. Meaning, he fell asleep at the worst moments. _

_ “Agent Carter snorted from the other bed, gave me a wink, and mouthed ‘It’s true.’ I couldn’t help but grin, amused. _

_ “The rest of the interview went smoothly. Captain America said he wanted to inform everyone that they were all healing well and should be released from the hospital by the end of the month, barring any set-backs. He wanted to thank all the loyal SHIELD agents for supporting the cause when they were needed the most and said he regretted not noticing something was wrong earlier.  _

_ “He sounded genuinely remorseful and clenched his fist, the one that wasn’t in a cast. Seeing his anguished face, Carter threw the newly dubbed ‘Bucky Bear’ at him. Captain America huffed a laugh and stuck it in the space between him and his cast. _

_ ““It’s so dorky,” he admitted fondly. “I’m glad Tony (Stark) is making these actually. He said all profits made off these silly bears is going to repairs and helping everyone affected.” _

“ _ If this man was any more of a pure cinnamon roll, I would spontaneously combust, _ ” Bucky reads aloud. “Now what the hell does that mean?”

“It’s an internet thing, darling. One of those… me-me’s?” Peggy pipes up.

“Memes, right,” Bucky says with a nod. 

The rest of the article goes on to explain what Peggy and Steve are recovering from and how they seem to be doing. Parker outlines the facts and makes sure to be clear that Peggy and Steve are just fine and are just about ready to rejoin the world. It's clearly formatted to calm the intense waves of concern coming from the public, and Bucky approves of this Parker kid a little more.


	24. Epilogue

During their stay at the hospital, Nat pops in and sets a list before Bucky, a packet of pages stapled together. She lets Bucky flip through it and grins.

“You found us a bunch of options for houses?” Bucky asks incredulously.

“It was surprisingly easy,” she says, and raises one eyebrow. “I said one thing about Captain America and the realtors flocked to me, practically shoving options in my face. At least two said that your actions saved their lives or a close family member.” She flips her hair elegantly. “Anyway, I looked through them, remembering what you said when we were talking to Fury, and got these. What do you think?”

All of them were good sized houses in nice neighborhoods, and needed just the right amount of elbow grease. A good paint job here, some new flooring there or there, a few windows to replace, an absurd amount of vines growing up the side of another.

“They're perfect. Thanks Natasha.” He gives her a genuine smile and she grins back.

“Tell me what you guys want and I’ll tell the realtor.”

* * *

“This one,” Steve says suddenly.

Bucky blinks up from his reading and reaches out to take the pages in Steve’s hand.

He squints at the photo. It kind of looks like an odd mix between a Victorian era house and an apartment building. It’s two stories with an attic and basement. Vines and foliage grow out of every crevice and around the porch in thick clumps. It looks sturdy, but pretty abandoned. Some of the windows are boarded up or cracked and it needs a fresh coat of paint. It would have a nice yard if that mess was fixed up. The notes say it's sturdy, but needs some work.

It has four bedrooms and two baths, one large living room that flows into a dining room and a big kitchen. It was designed nicely, but people had shied away from it because of its age and the lack of modern appliances. Some of the electrical needed to be replaced, too. The rooms are covered in dust, but well crafted with good accents and nice hardwood floors. The master bedroom has a large walk-in closet. Perfect for three people's clothes.

Bucky loves it.

“Peggy?” He hands the pages to her. She flips through them, eyeing the detail and its merit.

She smiles. “Let’s do it.”

* * *

The next week Steve and Peggy are released, their casts taken off and their cuts healed into their skin.

Steve has a long scar from his eyebrow to just above his ear, whiter than his tan skin. The hair hasn’t grown back and they really aren’t sure it will. Bucky kisses it and apologizes for not being fast enough. Steve grins and says he could say the same thing, tracking the seam between Bucky’s skin and his metal arm.

Battle scars. Because of the three’s enhanced healing, they’re hard for them to get. Those that do scar are usually serious. Like bullet wounds.

Bucky smiles sadly and calls him a punk.

* * *

The realtor they buy the house from is practically quivering with excitement. She can’t stop smiling and just keeps answering questions too eagerly.

She is very kind and smooths over any worries, happy to help the people who apparently saved her sister, a high ranking CIA agent. She even offers them quarter-off on the house, but Steve insists that everything is perfect.

So, three weeks after they leave the little hospital in DC, they stand outside their freshly bought home.

“I think we should get rid of all the weeds first, then work from there,” Bucky says, gesturing to the thick mass of green and brown weeds and vines that criss-cross each other.

“Maybe we should deal with the electrical first and foremost. All the important and tricky stuff.” Steve pauses. “Tony said he’d come down and help with that tomorrow, did I mention?”

“Musta forgot. But that’s good. I don’t wanna be playin’ around with electricity, really. Metal arm, bad idea,” Bucky ways with a nods.

Peggy walks up the front steps and spins slowly, her blue and white sun-dress swirling with her movement. “This porch will be perfect for reading outside during the summer,” she says excitedly. “Tea in the mornings when the weather is nice. All you need is a little table and a few chairs.”

Bucky nudges Steve and murmurs, “Ya ever think we’d finally be home?”

“Course, Buck. Just never thought it’d be a place. I always knew it would be you, and then during the war I realized it was you and Peggy.”

Tears prick Bucky’s eyes again and he leans into Steve. “Punk.”

“Jerk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND WE'RE DONE!!!  
> i had so much fun writing this, so please leave some kudos of comments! I'm so glad you all stuck around till the end! remember, i should be posting little continuations, so subscribe to the series if you want to read little ficlets and such about these nerds.
> 
> BIG SHOUTOUT TO NARUTOROX, MY BRILLIANT EDITOR, YOU'RE MY FAVORITE I STG AND YOU SHOULD BE CHERISHED


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